[Failure to thrive among hospitalized 0-2 year-old children].

Introduction: Failure to thrive, defined as insufficient weight gain according to age, is a well-known condition among infants and toddlers. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of diagnosed failure to thrive and possible comorbidity in hospitalised 0-2 year-old children in the County of Copenhagen.
Material and Methods: It resulted from inquiries sent to all paediatric departments in Denmark that the most frequently used ICD-10 diagnoses for failure to thrive were R62.8, E64.9, and E34.3. Data concerning patients with these three diagnoses hospitalised in two paediatric departments in the County of Copenhagen during a two-year period were drawn from the Patient Registry System. The following parameters were registered: sex, age, diagnoses, hospitalizations, and address.
Results: Among referred children below the age of two years, 173 or 4% were diagnosed with failure to thrive. Girls were in excess, the ratio girls-boys being 107:66. More than half, 60% were below one year of age, 40% were below six months of age. We found equal distribution of index children from municipalities with low and high incomes. The diagnosis R62.8 was found in 170 patients, of whom 155 had the diagnosis as either main diagnosis or side diagnosis. Out of these 155 patients 46% had additional somatic diagnosis, whereas 5% had child psychiatric comorbidity.
Discussion: Failure to thrive was diagnosed in 4% of hospitalised children under two years of age. Nearly half of the children diagnosed with failure to thrive had a comorbid somatic diagnosis, whereas only a few was diagnosed with psychiatric or social disturbances.