Journal article
Changes in Children's Health Care Access and Utilization in the United States in the First Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Academic pediatrics, Vol.23(8), pp.1572-1578
11/2023
DOI: 10.1016/j.acap.2023.07.007
Abstract
To compare children's access to and utilization of health care services in the U.S. during the first two years of the pandemic to pre-pandemic levels.
This cross-sectional study used data from the 2017-2021 National Survey of Children’s Health. Access to care was measured by having a usual place for sick and preventive care, having a personal doctor or nurse, and unmet care needs. Utilization measures included preventive, mental health, specialist, and ED visits, and hospital admissions in the past 12 months. Outcomes were reported by parents or other caregivers. Multivariate logistic regressions were employed adjusting for sociodemographic factors and state of residence. The study sample included 163,353 children aged 0 to 17 years.
Compared to 2019, there were declines in the probability of having a usual place for sick care in 2020 (-1.5 percentage-points) and a usual place for preventive care in 2021 (-2.1 percentage-points), and greater probability of unmet care needs in 2020 (+1.2 percentage-points) and 2021 (+0.8 percentage-points). The probability of having any preventive, specialist, and ED visits and hospitalizations remained lower in 2021 than 2019 (-7.5, 2.2, 5.4 and 0.9 percentage-points, respectively). These differences were not explained by pre-pandemic trends and were observed across a range of sociodemographic subgroups.
Children’s health care access and utilization declined noticeably over the first two years of the pandemic. Evaluating these outcomes in subsequent years and addressing barriers to care continue to be critical to reduce unmet needs.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Changes in Children's Health Care Access and Utilization in the United States in the First Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Creators
- Wei Lyu - University of MemphisGeorge L. Wehby - Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Academic pediatrics, Vol.23(8), pp.1572-1578
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.acap.2023.07.007
- ISSN
- 1876-2859
- eISSN
- 1876-2867
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 07/21/2023
- Date published
- 11/2023
- Academic Unit
- Health Management and Policy; Preventive and Community Dentistry; Economics; Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984448058502771
Metrics
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