Numbers of children and young people with life-limiting conditions are rising, and increasing lifespans require young adults to transit to appropriate adult services. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of life limiting conditions in children and young adults by age, sex, diagnostic groups, ethnicity and deprivation. Individuals (0-40) with life-limiting conditions (LLC's) were identified within an English Hospital Episode Statistics dataset by applying a customised coding framework. Their findings showed that the prevalence of LLC's is higher in the under 1 year and 36 - 40 age group, with the lowest prevalence in the 20 - 25 year age group. In young adults the highest prevalance is accounted for by patients with an oncology diagnosis. The paper identifies a number of key areas that palliative care service providers need to take into account in order to develop efficient and equitable services.
Fraser, L., Lidstone, V., Miller, M., Aldridge, J., Norman, P., McKinney, P. & Parslow, R. 2014. Patterns of diagnoses among children and young adults with life-limiting conditions: a secondary analysis of a national dataset. Palliative Medicine, 28 (6) pp513-520.
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