RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Risk factors for hospitalisation in Welsh infants with a congenital anomaly JF BMJ Paediatrics Open JO BMJ Paediatrics Open FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP e001238 DO 10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001238 VO 6 IS 1 A1 Peter S Y Ho A1 Maria A Quigley A1 David F Tucker A1 Jennifer J Kurinczuk YR 2022 UL http://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/6/1/e001238.abstract AB Objectives To investigate risk factor associated with hospitalisation of infants with a congenital anomaly in Wales, UK.Design A population-based cohort study.Setting Data from the Welsh Congenital Anomaly Register and Information Service linked to the Patient Episode Database for Wales and livebirths and deaths from the Office for National Statistics.Patients All livebirths between 1999 and 2015 with a diagnosis of a congenital anomaly, which was defined as a structural, metabolic, endocrine or genetic defect, as well as rare diseases of hereditary origin.Main outcome measures Adjusted OR (aOR) associated with 1 or 2+ hospital admissions in infancy versus no admissions were estimated for sociodemographic, maternal and infant factors using multinomial logistic regression for the subgroups of all, isolated, multiple and cardiovascular anomalies.Results 25 523 infants affected by congenital anomalies experienced a total of 50 705 admissions in infancy. Risk factors for ≥2 admissions were younger maternal age ≤24 years (aOR: 1.17; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.30), maternal smoking (aOR: 1.20; 1.10 to 1.31), preterm birth (aOR: 2.52; 2.25 to 2.83) and moderately severe congenital heart defects (aOR: 6.25; 4.47 to 8.74). Girls had an overall decreased risk of 2+ admissions (aOR: 0.84; 0.78 to 0.91). Preterm birth was a significant risk factor for admissions in all anomaly subgroups but the effect of the other characteristics varied according to anomaly subgroup.Conclusions Over two-thirds of infants with an anomaly are admitted to hospital during infancy. Our findings identified sociodemographic and clinical characteristics contributing to an increased risk of hospitalisation of infants with congenital anomalies.All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information. All data relevant to the study are included in the article or uploaded as supplementary information.The secondary anonymised health data for this study was provided by the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank in Wales.