Analysis of 622 paediatric hospitalisations due to arterial ischaemic stroke in Poland – National Health Fund registry-based study from 2011 to 2020

INTRODUCTION: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS) in Polish children, as well as to analyse the parameters related to AIS hospitalisation, including age, gender, region, month and season of the year at admission, duration, and costs, based on data from National Health Fund (NHF) registry in 2011–2020. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from the NHF were analysed statistically. The disease was identified according to the codes I63 and I64 of the International Classification of Diseases, 10(th) Revision (ICD-10), and patients included only individuals up to 18 years of age. RESULTS: We identified 622 hospitalisations due to paediatric AIS in Poland in the study period. The most frequent age subgroups were adolescents, followed by toddlers or pre-school children (34.73% and 24.12%, respectively), while the least frequent were neonates or infants (9.81%). ICD-10 procedures did significantly affect the duration and costs of hospitalisation (p < 0.001). The highest costs of hospitalisations concerned the I63.1 procedure (cerebral infarction due to embolism of precerebral arteries), which included thrombectomy. The duration and costs of hospitalisation were positively correlated with each other (r = 0.525, p < 0.001). Age correlated negatively with duration of hospitalisation (r = –0.154, p < 0.001) and positively with costs of hospitalisation (r = 0.133, p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Data from the NHF registry proved that AIS occurs more often in boys than in girls and is more common in adolescents (15–18 years) than in younger children.