Maternal Disability and Emergency Department Use for Infants

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pediatrics
• Disability Studies

Background:

• Infants represent a high-risk group for emergency department (ED) visits.
• Women with disabilities face social disparities and potential barriers to accessing pediatric primary care, potentially leading to increased ED utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare emergency department (ED) utilization among infants born to mothers with and without disabilities.
• To analyze ED visits by timing (early vs. late infancy) and acuity (high, moderate, low) in relation to maternal disability status.

Main Methods:

• Population-based cohort study in Ontario, Canada, analyzing data from April 2008 to March 2021.
• Maternal disability status (physical, sensory, intellectual/developmental, multiple) identified using diagnostic algorithms on pre-delivery healthcare encounters.
• Cox proportional hazards regression used to assess the association between maternal disability and infant ED visits, adjusting for sociodemographic factors and infant characteristics.

Main Results:

• Over 1.5 million infants were included; 12.6% were born to mothers with a disability.
• Infants of mothers with any type of disability (physical, sensory, intellectual/developmental, multiple) showed a higher likelihood of ED visits compared to infants of mothers without disabilities.
• This increased likelihood of ED use was consistent across different timings and acuity levels of the visits.

Conclusions:

• Infants born to mothers with disabilities demonstrate a greater propensity for emergency department (ED) use.
• Findings underscore the critical need for enhanced family support services and improved access to early primary care for children of mothers with disabilities.