Table 1

Population, Interventions, Comparisons, Outcomes and Study Design

PopulationPaediatric patients discharged from hospitals in developing countries, as defined as those countries currently (2016) classified by the United Nations Development Programme as having a low Human Development Index plus those countries included previously (2011) as having a low Human Development Index.6 7
Exclusion criteria:

  • No paediatric data or paediatric data not differentiated from adult populations.

  • No postdischarge information or patients not discharged from a hospital setting.

  • Discharge was following a non-admission (eg, following birth).

  • Studies representing a specific non-infectious disease population where postdischarge care and outcomes would likely be different than that following acute (primarily infectious) illness including:

    • Surgical population;

    • Specific congenital disease (cardiac, renal, etc);

    • Cancer;

    • Specific non-infectious admission including trauma, kidney disease, cardiac disease, ophthalmic disease, sickle cell disease, liver disease, epilepsy, burns, poisoning, asthma, etc.

  • Study was unpublished, published only in abstract form or in a language other than English, or provided no original data.

InterventionsStudies may or may not include an interventional arm (ie, both arms of an RCT will be included).
ComparisonsNA
OutcomesPrimary outcome:

  • Postdischarge mortality assessed >7 days following discharge.

Secondary outcomes:

  • In-hospital mortality;

  • Risk factors for postdischarge mortality.

Study designEligible study designs include the following:

  • Randomised controlled trials (RCTs);

  • Prospective or retrospective cohort studies;

  • Studies using surveillance data;

  • Study designs which include a population discharged and then followed up (including case-control, mixed-methods).

  • NA, not applicable.