13 % of U.S. children have had a special health care need

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13 percent of U.S. children have had a special health care need

News-Medical in Child Health News Tuesday, 7-Sep-2004

Approximately 13 percent of U.S. children have had a special health care

need, and significant proportions of their families experience financial

problems related to the child's condition, according to an article in

the September issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Children with SHCNs are defined as " those children who have or are at

increased risk for a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or

emotional condition and who also require health care-related services of

a type or amount beyond that required by children generally, " according

to the federal Maternal and Child Health Care Bureau. These children are

also at risk for mental and behavioral problems, and missing school

days, according to the article. Parents of children with SHCNs are less

likely to be employed full time and are more likely to have Medicaid

insurance, the article states.

C. van Dyck, M.D., M.P.H., from the Maternal and Child Health

Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, Rockville, Md.,

and colleagues designed a study to estimate the number of children with

SHCNs in the United States and to evaluate how well their needs were

being met. The researchers conducted telephone interviews with the

families of 38,866 children with SHCNs younger than 18 years.

The researchers found that an estimated 12.8 percent of U.S. children

had an SHCN in 2001. The prevalence of SHCNs was highest among boys,

school-age children, and children in lower-income families. Of these

children, 17.7 percent experienced unmet health care needs. Almost 30

percent of the families interviewed reported that their child's

condition had caused them to cut back on or quit work, and 20.9 percent

of the families reported that their child's health care caused financial

problems.

" Perhaps our most important findings concern the disparities we found in

access, satisfaction, and impact on the family, " the authors write. " We

found consistent patterns of disparities whereby children disadvantaged

by low family income, minority racial and ethnic status, lack of health

insurance, and greater severity of functional limitations also

experienced significantly worse access to care than their more

advantaged counterparts, " write the researchers.

" To address the disparities raised by the survey data, we need systemic

change that establishes universal, sustainable community systems of

services for all affected children and their families, " the authors

conclude.

http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/