Pediatric patients exposed to more imaging radiation at nonchildren’s hospitals
Children are exposed to more ionizing radiation from medical imaging at general hospitals that don’t specialize in pediatric care, according to new Neiman Health Policy Institute research published Wednesday.
Kids who undergo X-rays may experience greater potential lifetime risk of developing cancer when compared to adults. That’s why governing bodies and medical societies have created tailored radiation dosing regimens for pediatric patients, researchers detail Wednesday in JACR.
However, regular adult hospitals seem to be deviating more so from these directives than their pediatric counterparts, based on an analysis of nearly 5.5 million medical claims. In fact, adult hospitals used CT at about twice the rate of children’s hospitals (1% vs. 0.5% of encounters) and X-rays at about 1.5 times the rate of pediatric providers (11.8% vs. 7.5%).
“Children are not just small adults, and the imaging used in their diagnoses should reflect children’s higher sensitivity to ionizing radiation,” study co-author Sherwin S. Chan, MD, PhD, vice chair of radiology research at Children’s Mercy Kansas City, said in a statement. “Our findings highlight the need for broader adoption of pediatric‑appropriate imaging protocols, especially in nonchildren’s hospitals.”
The analysis used 100% of all outpatient Medicaid claims from both hospitals and their emergency departments, logged in 2019. Of those, about 53% came from children’s hospitals and 47% were for encounters at other facilities with limited or no pediatric units. The modalities most used on children included X-ray (9.5%) and ultrasound (2.1%), with radiographs and CT more frequently deployed in general hospitals. Meanwhile, ultrasound (2.5% vs. 1.7%) and MRI (0.9% vs. 0.5%) were more frequently used at children's hospitals.
“The higher use of CT among pediatric patients at nonchildren’s hospitals has significant implications beyond the United States,” Andrea Doria, MD, PhD, research director, senior scientist, and imaging lead of personalized child health at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, said in the announcement. “These findings underscore the importance of pediatric‑specific protocols and the need for international collaboration to promote safer imaging practices.”
Read more about the findings in the Journal of the American College of Radiology here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.