The use of preventive health services by disabled children

As a measure of the use of general pediatric health services we assessed disabled children's receipt of preventive health care in relation to a control group of nondisabled children, matched by age, family size, and region of residence. The study and control subjects were identified in a household survey conducted in Minnesota in 1976 and ranged in age from 1 to 18 years. The proportion who made a preventive health visit was nearly identical in both groups. Binary variable multiple regression showed that 9 percent of the variation in outcome was explained by the independent variables, which included demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and access to health care. Disability did not contribute significantly to the explained variation, but family structure, mother's education, and mother's use of preventive health services reached the 95 percent level of significance. The results suggest that children in a community who are identified as disabled are not at a disadvantage, in comparison with the nondisabled, in gaining access to preventive health services. The use of such services by all children appears to be low when information on using school health services is not available.