Size and Prevalence of Pediatric Aerodigestive Programs in 2017

Objective: Pediatric aerodigestive programs appear to be rapidly proliferating and provide multi-disciplinary, coordinated care to complex, medically-fragile children. Pediatric subspecialists are considered essential to these programs. This study evaluated the state of these programs in 2017 by surveying their size, composition, prevalence, and the number of patients that they serve. Methods: The North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition Aerodigestive Special Interest Group leadership distributed an 11-question survey to the Pediatric Gastroenterology International Listserv. The mean time of the programs' existence, number of half-day clinics, number of procedure days, number of patients evaluated and the lead primary specialty were evaluated. Results: Thirty-four programs responded. Twenty-five were based in academic centers. 31 programs were located across the United States. The average time of program existence was 5.3 years (SD 4.3 range 1–17 years). 64.7% were started in the past five years. Twelve programs were based in the division of gastroenterology. The average number of gastroenterologists serving aerodigestive programs was 2 (SD 1.1). The mean number of half-day clinic sessions and procedure days were 2.8 (SD 2.9) and 2.6 (SD 2) respectively. New and follow-up visits per year in each program averaged 184 (SD 168, range 10–750). Conclusion: Pediatric aerodigestive programs are prevalent, proliferating, and serve a large number of complex patients across North America and the world. This survey demonstrated that programs are predominantly based in academic settings. The number of patients cared for by aerodigestive centers varies widely depending on size and age of program Address correspondence and reprint requests to Joel A. Friedlander, Lindsey Gumer, Aerodigestive Program, Digestive Health Institute, Children's Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Aurora, CO (e-mails: Joel.Friedlander@childrenscolorado.org; lbgumer@gmail.com). Received 8 October, 2018 Accepted 1 January, 2019 Conflicts of interest: Joel Friedlander is president, chief medical officer, and co-founder of Triple Endoscopy, Inc. Joel Friedlander is listed as co- inventor on University of Colorado patents pending US 62/184,077, US/ 62/732,272, PCT/US2016/039352, AU201683112, CA 2,990,182, EU 16815420.1, JP 2017-566710, US 15/850,939, US 15/853,521, US15/887,438, US 62/680,798 039352 related to endoscopic methods and technologies. ' Grant Support: Red Cap Supported by NIH/NCRR Colorado CTSI Grant Number UL1 TR002535. RR is funded through the NIH R01 DK097112 and the Boston Children's Hospital Translational Research Program. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text, and links to the digital files are provided in the HTML text of this article on the journal's Web site (www.jpgn.org). © 2019 by European Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology,

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