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Assessing the Association Between Maternal Education and Access to Pediatric Specialty Care
Julie Sanville1,2, Annie Gjelsvik1, Patrick Vivier1,2,3
1Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Insights
Children whose mothers have a high school education or less are 41% more likely to experience unmet pediatric specialty care needs. Maternal education level is a key factor in identifying children at risk for these unmet needs.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Health Services Research
- Sociology of Health
Background:
- Access to pediatric specialty care remains a significant challenge.
- Unmet needs for specialized pediatric services impact child health outcomes.
- Identifying barriers to care is crucial for improving healthcare access.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine factors associated with unmet pediatric specialty care needs.
- To investigate the specific association between maternal education level and unmet needs.
- To identify maternal education as a potential risk indicator for access issues.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health.
- Identified a subset of children with documented unmet specialty care needs.
- Employed logistic regression models to analyze the relationship between maternal education and unmet needs.
Main Results:
- Approximately 12.5% of US children experienced unmet specialty care needs.
- Children with mothers educated at a high school level or below were 41% more likely to have unmet needs.
- This association remained significant after controlling for confounding variables.
Conclusions:
- Maternal education level is a significant predictor of unmet pediatric specialty care needs.
- Lower maternal education is a risk factor for children facing barriers to specialized care.
- Educational attainment can serve as a screening tool for identifying at-risk children.
Abstract:
Background. Timely access to pediatric specialty care continues to be a pervasive issue. We aimed to identify factors associated with unmet pediatric specialty care needs by assessing the association with maternal level of education. Methods. A sample was extracted from the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health, which identified a subset of patients with unmet specialty care needs. Logistic regression models determined the strength of association between our sample and maternal level of education. Results. An estimated 12.5% of US children had unmet specialty care needs. Independent of confounding variables, children with mothers educated at a level of high school or less were 41% more likely to have unmet specialty care needs compared to those with mothers who were educated at a level greater than high school. Conclusions. Maternal level of education can be used as a risk factor to assess whether a child will have unmet specialty care needs.
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