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Physician visits and prescribed drugs among young children and their mothers
1Department of Social Medicine, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Insights
Mothers' healthcare utilization and younger maternal age predict young children's medical service use. These factors explained 6-8% of children's healthcare variations, highlighting family influences on pediatric healthcare access.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric healthcare utilization
- Maternal health behaviors
- Social determinants of child health
Background:
- Understanding predictors of healthcare use in young children is crucial for public health planning.
- Maternal health-seeking behaviors and family characteristics may influence pediatric service utilization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the extent to which mothers' medical service use and family characteristics predict young children's medical service use.
- To identify key factors influencing healthcare utilization in preschool-aged children.
Main Methods:
- Study population: 591 children aged 2-4 years in a Swedish rural municipality.
- Data sources: Register data on physician visits and prescription drug purchases in 1979.
- Statistical analysis: Multiple regression models to assess associations between variables.
Main Results:
- Significant positive associations found between children's and mothers' physician visits.
- Significant positive associations found between children's and mothers' prescription drug purchases.
- Children of younger mothers had higher rates of physician visits and prescription drug purchases.
Conclusions:
- Maternal healthcare utilization is a significant predictor of young children's medical service use.
- Maternal age is associated with children's healthcare utilization patterns.
- Maternal factors explain a notable portion (6-8%) of the variation in pediatric healthcare use.
Abstract:
The extent to which use of medical services by young children could be predicted by mothers' use of medical services and by certain family characteristics has been studied. The study population comprised 591 children two to four years of age in a Swedish rural municipality. Register data on physician visits and prescription drug purchases during 1979 constituted main sources of information. Statistically significant positive associations were found between number of physician visits made by the children and by their mothers and between number of prescription drug purchases made for the children and for the mothers. More physician visits and prescription drug purchases were made for the children of younger mothers than for those of older mothers. Six to eight per cent of the variation in the use of medical services by the young children was explained in multiple regression models including mainly mothers' use of medical care, mothers' age and children's age.