Evidence for a persistent, major excess in all cause admissions to hospital in children with type-1 diabetes: results from a large Welsh national matched community cohort study

Objectives To estimate the excess in admissions associated with type1 diabetes in childhood. Design Matched-cohort study using anonymously linked hospital admission data. Setting Brecon Group Register of new cases of childhood diabetes in Wales linked to hospital admissions data within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank. Population 1577 Welsh children (aged between 0 and 15 years) from the Brecon Group Register with newly-diagnosed type-1 diabetes between 1999–2009 and 7800 population controls matched on age, sex, county, and deprivation, randomly selected from the local population. Main outcome measures Difference in all-cause hospital admission rates, 30-days post-diagnosis until 31 May 2012, between participants and controls. Results Children with type-1 diabetes were followed up for a total of 12 102 person years and were at 480% (incidence rate ratios, IRR 5.789, (95% CI 5.34 to 6.723), p