Extending neurologic services to rural children.

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Pediatrics
• Public Health

Background:

• Rural children often face barriers accessing specialized neurologic care.
• The University of Kentucky established a traveling clinic to address this disparity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a traveling neurology clinic in serving rural children.
• To identify the types of neurologic disorders prevalent in this population.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of clinic visit data from 1978, including patient demographics and diagnoses.
• Comparison with a community survey of school-age children to assess service reach.

Main Results:

• The clinic served 438 children, with 231 new patients and 646 total visits in 1978.
• Epilepsy was the most common diagnosis among new patients (74/231).
• The clinic reached 45% of school-age children with active epilepsy, who had higher seizure frequency and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Conclusions:

• An urban-based traveling clinic is effective in identifying and managing neurologic disorders in rural pediatric populations.
• The clinic successfully serves a significant portion of rural children with epilepsy.
• Disparities in health status and socioeconomic background were noted among clinic patients.