Schooling experiences in children with long-gap esophageal atresia compared with children with esophageal atresia and primary anastomosis: a Swedish study

Table 6 Frequency and reasons of school absence in children with long-gap esophageal atresia (n_tot = 25) and with primary anastomosis of Gross type C esophageal atresia

School absence the past year	Long-gap esophageal atresia	Gross type C esophageal atresia, primary anastomosis	p values
School-absence	n, %	n, %
High frequency of school absence^a, ^b	9 (36.0)	26 (28.9)	0.63
Several times every month	7 (28.0)	17 (18.9)
At least once a month	2 (8.0)	9 (10.0)
3–5 times half a year	5 (20.0)	20 (22.2)
3–5 times every year	7 (28.0)	31 (34.4)
About once every year	4 (16.0)	4 (4.4)
No school absence	0	9 (10.0)

Reasons for school absence ^c, ^d	n, %	n, %
Colds/Airway infections	21 (87.5)	56 (65.1)	0.045
Repeated respiratory problems	6 (25.0)	21 (24.4)	1.0
Health care consumption	8 (33.3)	20 (23.3)	0.43
General sickness^e	11 (45.8)	48 (55.8)	0.49
GI-specific problems^f	8 (33.3)	7 (8.1)	0.003
Sleep disturbance/Tiredness	3 (12.5)	7 (8.1)	0.44
Other reasons^g	2 (8.3)	9 (10.5)	1.0

^a ≥ 1 month/year
^b 3 missing values in the group of children with Gross type C esophageal atresia, primary anastomosis
^c 2 missing values in the group of children with long-gap esophageal atresia
^d 7 missing values in the group of children with Gross type C esophageal atresia, primary anastomosis
^ewhen parents described e.g. fever, headache, ill
^fincluding vomiting problems, gastroesophageal reflux disease and stomachache
^gwhen parents described non-disease related reasons like travels, menstruation in girls, visit at the dentist

ISSN: 1750-1172