Paediatria Croatica, Vol. 59 No. 4, 2015.
Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.13112/PC.2015.35
Tourist pediatric morbidity during their visit to Split-Dalmatia County
Marija Nuić
orcid.org/0000-0003-0895-2471
; KBC Split
Ivana Unić Šabašov
Marin Petrić
orcid.org/0000-0002-5282-9633
Abstract
The aim was to determine morbidity of foreign children during their tourist visit to Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The study included
medical documentation of 233 foreign children tourists aged under 18 years, hospitalized at Clinical Department of Pediatrics, Split
University Hospital Center in the period from January 2007 to December 2013. Demographic data were statistically analyzed. Of 233
children tourists hospitalized at our department, 134 (57.5%) were boys. Most of the children tourists (51.1%) were aged 0-5 years.
According to nationality, they were from 30 countries from all over the world, but mostly from Europe (97.9%). The highest number
of children tourists were from Germany (14.2%). The highest percentage of children tourists (92.7%) were hospitalized during summer
months. The mean length of hospital stay was 4.4±3.3 days. According to the reason for hospitalization, children tourists were
mostly admitted to our hospital for nervous system symptoms (32.6%); 43.4% of these had febrile seizures and 39.5% epilepsy. The
nervous system symptoms were followed by injury and poisoning (14.6%), respiratory symptoms (14.1%), submersion and heat
injuries (9.9%), and digestive symptoms (9.4%). In conclusion, we describe foreign pediatric population hospitalized in the Split University
Hospital Center during their vacation in the Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia. The largest number of children tourists were from
Germany and the nervous system symptoms were the most common reason for hospitalization. Therefore, we suggest cooperation
between the Croatian health care system and Croatian National Tourist Board for developing prevention strategies regarding morbidity
in pediatric tourist population. In particular, prevention and fi rst line therapy for cerebral seizures should be broadly available,
such as in hotels, apartments, and even on beaches.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
153124
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2015.
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