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A nationwide survey of incidence rates and risk factors of inguinal hernia in preterm children

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Abstract

Purpose

Clinical observations showed a higher incidence rate of inguinal hernia (IH) in preterm infants. In this study, we calculated the incidence rate of preterm IH from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan.

Methods

From NHIRD, 92,308 subjects born in the year of 1997–2005 were randomly selected as the study cohort. The medical claims of these subjects from birth to 6th year of age were analyzed. Preterm births were defined using ICD code 765.1*. Risk factors such as birth weight, lung disorders, and ventilator supports before IH repairs were investigated. The risk of incarceration and bowel resection were also evaluated.

Results

From 92,308 subjects, 2560 preterm births were identified. IH was repaired in 231 preterm (9.02%) and 3650 term subjects (4.07%). Male (preterm 13.3% and non-preterm 6.3%) had more hernia repairs than female (preterm 3.8% and non-preterm 1.6%). The incidence rate of IH is 13.7% for those under 1500 g, 8.2% for those 1500–1999 g, 7.7% for those 2000–2499 g, and 6.3% for those above 2500 g. The incidence rate of IH in preterms with past history of lung disorders and ventilation supports is 8.7 and 13.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the incidences of incarceration and bowel resection between preterms and non-preterms.

Conclusions

Birth weight under 2500 g is a significant risk factor for IH repairs. Other risk factors are male gender, past history of lung diseases, and ventilator supports.

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Author notes

  1. Yu-Wei Fu and Mei-Lien Pan had equal contribution to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pediatric Surgery, Changhua Christian Children Hospital, 135, Nanxiao Street, Changhua, 500, Changhua County, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Yu-Wei Fu, Yao-Jen Hsu & Tai-Wai Chin

  2. Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Road, Section 2, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Mei-Lien Pan

Authors
  1. Yu-Wei Fu
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  2. Mei-Lien Pan
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  3. Yao-Jen Hsu
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  4. Tai-Wai Chin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tai-Wai Chin.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For this type of study, formal consent is not required. This chapter does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

All information obtained from the national health insurance database was deidentified, so theoretically, it is impossible to query the data alone to identify individuals at any level using this database. For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

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Fu, YW., Pan, ML., Hsu, YJ. et al. A nationwide survey of incidence rates and risk factors of inguinal hernia in preterm children. Pediatr Surg Int 34, 91–95 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-017-4222-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-017-4222-0

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