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Barriers to Health Care Affordability Among Parents of Children with Atopic Dermatitis
Christopher G Youn1,2, Gordon H Bae2, Golara Honari2
1From the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
Insights
Parents of children with atopic dermatitis (AD) face significant healthcare access challenges, including difficulties obtaining medications and specialist care. Socioeconomic factors worsen these barriers for families managing childhood eczema.
Area of Science:
- Dermatology and Public Health
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Pediatric atopic dermatitis (AD) presents a substantial financial strain on families.
- Limited research addresses the impact of childhood AD on parental healthcare access and affordability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the influence of childhood AD on parental healthcare access.
- To identify socioeconomic factors exacerbating these access issues.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of the National Health Interview Survey data from 48,329,314 participants.
- Utilized multivariable logistic regression to assess the association between pediatric AD and parental access to care.
Main Results:
- Parents of children with AD reported increased difficulty accessing prescription medications, follow-up care, and specialist services.
- Higher odds of purchasing medications from abroad were observed in parents of children with AD.
- Uninsured or lower-income parents within the AD cohort experienced greater healthcare access barriers.
Conclusions:
- Parental healthcare access is significantly impacted by childhood atopic dermatitis.
- Sociodemographic characteristics, particularly insurance status and income, create disparities in healthcare access for families with children affected by AD.
Abstract:
Pediatric atopic dermatitis (AD) can pose a significant financial burden to families. However, no studies exist that assess the impact of pediatric AD on health care access/affordability at the parental level. Explore the effects of childhood AD on parental access to health care and the socioeconomic factors that might exacerbate these problems. The National Health Interview Survey was used to analyze 48,329,314 participants who answered the validated question on pediatric AD. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the association between pediatric AD and parental access to care. Parents of children with AD were more likely to have difficulty accessing prescription medications (aOR: 1.47; [95% CI 1.31-1.65]), follow-up care (1.36; [95% CI 1.17-1.57]), specialist care (aOR: 1.53; [95% CI 1.33-1.75]), and more likely to purchase medications from abroad (aOR: 1.35; [95% CI 1.09-1.67]) relative to their counterparts with children without AD. Within the AD cohort, uninsured or lower income participants had higher odds of facing these barriers to care. Parents of children with AD are more likely to face barriers in health care access, and significant disparities exist based on sociodemographic characteristics.
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