To describe variation regarding inpatient therapy and evaluation of children with Henoch Schönlein purpura (HSP) admitted to children’s hospitals across the United States.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children discharged with a diagnosis of HSP between 2000 and 2007 by use of inpatient administrative data from 36 children’s hospitals. We examined variation among hospitals in the use of medications, diagnostic tests, and intensive care services with multivariate mixed effects logistic regression models.

During the initial HSP hospitalization (n = 1988), corticosteroids were the most common medication (56% of cases), followed by opioids (36%), nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (35%), and antihypertensive drugs (11%). After adjustment for patient characteristics, hospitals varied significantly in their use of corticosteroids, opioids, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs; the use of diagnostic abdominal imaging, endoscopy, laboratory testing, and renal biopsy; and the use of intensive care services. By contrast, hospitals did not differ significantly regarding administration of antihypertensive drugs or performance of skin biopsy.

The significant variation identified may contribute to varying HSP clinical outcomes between hospitals, warrants further investigation, and represents a potentially important opportunity to improve quality of care.