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Published on: January 11, 2016
Unmet health care needs in children with cerebral palsy: a cross-sectional study
Katie E Jackson1, Shanthi Krishnaswami, Melissa McPheeters
1Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Ave, Ste 600, Nashville, TN 37203-1738, United States. katie.e.jackson@vanderbilt.edu
Insights
Children with cerebral palsy (CP) face greater unmet healthcare needs compared to other special health care needs (SHCN). Associated conditions like gastrointestinal and emotional problems further increase these unmet needs in children with CP.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Healthcare Disparities
- Chronic Condition Management
Background:
- Children with severe health conditions, including cerebral palsy (CP), are vulnerable to unmet healthcare needs.
- Understanding disparities in healthcare access for children with CP is crucial for targeted interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare unmet healthcare needs between children with CP and those with other special health care needs (SHCN).
- To investigate how CP-related conditions influence the likelihood of unmet healthcare needs.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of the 2005-2006 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs data.
- Multivariate logistic regression to assess odds of unmet healthcare needs in children with CP versus other SHCN.
- Examination of associations between CP-related conditions and unmet needs.
Main Results:
- Children with CP had higher odds of unmet healthcare needs (OR=1.46) than children with other SHCN.
- The association between CP and unmet needs was weaker when a "severe" health condition was present.
- Gastrointestinal and emotional problems significantly increased unmet healthcare needs in children with CP.
Conclusions:
- Children with CP experience similar unmet healthcare needs as other SHCN populations, suggesting a need for collaborative programs for severe chronic conditions.
- Children with CP and co-occurring conditions face a heightened risk of unmet healthcare needs.
- Targeted support for associated conditions in children with CP is essential to improve healthcare access.
Abstract:
Children with potentially severe health conditions such as cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk for unmet health care needs. We sought to determine whether children with CP had significantly greater unmet health care needs than children with other special health care needs (SHCN), and whether conditions associated with CP increased the odds of unmet health care needs. We analyzed data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, 2005-2006, using multivariate logistic regression to calculate the adjusted odds of children with CP having one or more unmet health care needs compared to children with other SHCN. We also determined the association of CP-related conditions with unmet health care needs in children with CP. After weighting to national averages, our sample represented 178,536 children with CP (1.9%), and 9,236,794 with children with other SHCN (98.1%). Although having CP increased the odds that children had unmet health care needs (OR = 1.46, 95% CI [1.07-1.99]), the presence of a "severe" health condition weakened the association. Gastrointestinal problems and emotional problems increased the odds that children with CP would have unmet health care needs above that of children without the associated conditions (p ≤ .01). Children with CP are similar to children with other SHCN and may benefit from collaborative programs targeting severe chronic conditions. However, children with CP and associated conditions have increased odds of unmet health care needs in comparison to children without those problems.
