Mary Elizabeth Hospital’s Data Powerhouse continuously examines the long-term consequences for children and adolescents with severe chronic diseases. Potential consequences include both health-related and socio-economic outcomes, including education.
Publications
Defining the population of adolescents in need of comprehensive transitional care based on diagnosis, visit frequency, and disease complexity. Henningsen M, Boisen KA, Madsen PV, Jensen A, Kildegaard H, Blix C, Lorentzen J, Cleemann LH, Spiegelhauer T, Dahl C, Bjerrum AE, Buchardt A, Stensballe LG (2026)
This transition study was conducted in collaboration with a range of clinical experts at Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet. The study developed a replicable method to identify adolescents in need of comprehensive transitional care when transferring from pediatric to adult healthcare during the period 2019–2022. Danish nationwide health registers were used to combine information on diagnosis codes, outpatient visit frequency, and disease complexity.
Main findings:
- The method identified 4,677 out of 418,994 (1.1%) adolescents aged 16–17 years as requiring comprehensive transitional care to specialized adult healthcare.
- Across the four Danish tertiary hospitals, the proportion of outpatient visits associated with a diagnosis requiring transition varied.
- At Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, 26.7% of outpatient visits involved a diagnosis associated with an expected need for comprehensive transitional care, whereas the corresponding proportion at Aalborg University Hospital was 11.6%.
- Diagnoses were categorized according to degree of complexity (A–D), which highlighted a smaller subgroup of adolescents with highly complex conditions requiring coordinated, multidisciplinary care.
- The number of adolescents identified as requiring comprehensive transitional care remained stable throughout the study period 2019–2022, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Association between chronic diseases in childhood and subsequent educational achievement: a Danish register-based cohort study.Buchardt AS, Jensen A, Kildegaard H, Stensballe LG (2025).Association between chronic diseases in childhood and subsequent educational achievement: a Danish register-based cohort study. Buchardt AS, Jensen A, Kildegaard H, Stensballe LG (2025).
The study showed that severe chronic disease in childhood is associated with poorer educational outcomes in school. Using nationwide Danish registers covering more than 440,000 children between 2014 and 2022, the study found that children diagnosed with a chronic disease before starting school had a 76% lower probability of completing school and achieved lower average exam grades than their peers — even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors such as country of origin and maternal education level. The study also revealed gender disparities, with boys performing worse than girls.
Proportion completing 9th grade:
- Girls without chronic disease: 76% — Girls with chronic disease: 58%
- Boys without chronic disease: 63% — Boys with chronic disease: 48%
Average grades at final primary school exam:
- Girls without chronic disease: 7.7 — Girls with chronic disease: 7.2
- Boys without chronic disease: 6.6 — Boys with chronic disease: 6.3
Some diagnoses have a stronger impact, for example, neurological conditions and diseases related to the perinatal period were associated with the largest educational gaps.
It is important to note that these differences were observed within Denmark’s universal healthcare and education system, showing that access alone does not ensure equal opportunities for children with chronic diseases.