Interfacility Transfer of Children With Time-Sensitive Surgical Conditions, 2002-2017

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Surgical care for children in the United States has become increasingly regionalized among fewer centers over time. The degree to which regionalization may be associated with access to urgent surgical care for time-sensitive conditions is not clear. To investigate whether transfers and travel distance have increased for 4 surgical conditions, and whether changes in transfers and travel distance have been more pronounced for rural vs urban children. This retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed data from 9 State Inpatient Databases from 2002 to 2017. Participants included children aged younger than 18 years undergoing urgent or emergent procedures for malrotation with volvulus, esophageal foreign body, and ovarian and testicular torsion. Residential and hospital zip codes were categorized as rural or urban. Hospitals were categorized as pediatric hospitals, adult hospitals with pediatric services, and adult hospitals without pediatric services. Primary outcomes were transfer for care and travel distance between patients' home residences and the hospitals where care was provided. Transfer and travel distance were analyzed using multivariable regression models. Among the 5865 children younger than 18 years undergoing procedures for malrotation with volvulus, esophageal foreign body, ovarian torsion, or testicular torsion, 461 (7.9%) resided in a rural area; 1097 (20.5%) were Hispanic, 1334 (24.9%) were non-Hispanic Black, and 2255 (42.0%) were non-Hispanic White; 2763 (47.1%) were covered by private insurance and 2535 (43.2%) were covered by Medicaid; and the median (IQR) age was 9 (2-14) years. Most care was provided at adult hospitals (73.4% with and 16.9% without pediatric services); the number of hospitals providing this care decreased from 493 to 292 hospitals (2002 vs 2017). Transfer was associated with rural residence (adjusted odds ratio [aRR], 2.3 [95% CI, 1.8-3.0]; P < .001) and increased over time (2017 vs 2002: aOR, 2.8 [95% CI, 2.0-3.8]; P < .001). Similarly, travel distance was associated with rural residence (adjusted risk ratio [aRR], 4.4 [95% CI, 3.9-4.8]; P < .001) and increased over time (2017 vs 2002: aRR, 1.3 [95% CI, 1.2-1.4]; P < .001). Rural children were more frequently transferred (2017 vs 2002) for esophageal foreign body (48.0% [12 of 25] vs 7.3% [4 of 55]; P < .001), ovarian torsion (26.7% [4 of 15] vs 0% [0 of 18]; P = .01), and testicular torsion (18.2% [2 of 11] vs 0% [0 of 16]; P = .04). Travel distance for rural children increased the most for torsions, from a median (IQR) of 19.1 (2.3-35.4) to 43.0 (21.6-98.8) miles (P = .03) for ovarian torsion and from 7.3 (0.4-23.7) to 44.5 (33.1-48.8) miles (P < .001) for testicular torsion. In this cross-sectional study of children with time-sensitive surgical conditions, the number of hospitals providing urgent surgical care to children decreased over time. Transfers of care, especially among rural children, and travel distance, especially for those with ovarian and testicular torsion, increased over time.