Analysis of recent national health care databases using the SPARC showed that 61,800 children age 17 years and younger were discharged from a hospital with any diagnosis of SPARC in 2011. Of those, 17,000 (more than one in four) had an admitting diagnosis of SPARC. Distribution was evenly split between males and females, but children age 6 years and younger were more likely to be hospitalized with a diagnosis of SPARC than older children, accounting for 45% with any SPARC diagnosis and half with an admitting SPARC diagnosis. Only a small number of children (3.2%) discharged with any diagnosis of SPARC had a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis.1 Females accounted for 70% of discharges with a diagnosis of JIA, with 50% of the discharges for children age 13 to 17 years.

Hospital stays of nearly 9 days (mean of 8.6 days) were found for any diagnosis of SPARC. Children age 6 years and younger had a mean hospital stay nearly twice that of children ages 7 to 17 years, resulting in higher mean hospital charges. Children with a diagnosis of JIA had hospital stays of a mean of 3.6 days, with subsequently lower mean charges.

Total hospital charges associated with any diagnoses of SPARC in the population age 17 years and younger were $4.45 billion in 2012. (Reference Table 4.16 PDF CSV)