Children With Inguinal Hernia Repairs: Age and Gender Characteristics:

Objective. This study reports the age and gender characteristics of children with inguinal hernia repairs (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] Operation Codes 530-533). Methods. We used a retrospective cohort study design based on 2 data sources from 2007 to 2011 (the Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, Taiwan, and a local teaching children’s hospital database) and descriptive statistics to analyze the group’s age and gender differences as independent variables. Results. The gender ratio was 7 males to 1 female in the general population, whereas the gender ratio in children was 3.5 males to 1 female. Gender difference was found statistically significant in the age subgroup difference: boys (49.1%) were more than girls (39.3%) in ages 1 to 4, while girls (37.8%) were more than boys (23.7%) in ages 5 to 9. Based on the local hospital’s data, of those 611 (15%) children born and who received herniorrhaphy, 204 (33.4%) were born as ...