Pediatric stroke treatment costly

COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 10 (UPI) -- Treating strokes in U.S. children annually costs at least $42 million, the first-ever cost analysis of pediatric stroke said.

"This is just the upfront cost -- the initial stroke care of these children -- not the long-term care cost," Dr. Warren Lo, a pediatric neurologist at Ohio State University, said in a release Friday.

Lo and his researchers reviewed data on 2,224 U.S. children up to age 20 who used hospital inpatient services for strokes, the team reported in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Costs in addition to the $42 million included transportation and lodging near hospitals that treat pediatric stroke, rehabilitation and missed time from work for caregivers.

"It's expensive for a kid to have a stroke," Lo said. "We must find more effective treatment -- earlier, better treatment -- that can reduce cost for kids staying in hospitals."

Costs were found to be higher at urban teaching hospitals and government/public hospitals, with costs highest in the western United States and lowest in the South, Lo said.