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Primary preventive health care in children with heart disease
Insights
Children with heart disease often have incomplete immunizations and dental care, despite lower out-of-pocket costs. This study highlights gaps in preventive healthcare for these children, suggesting a need for targeted educational programs for families and providers.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Preventive Medicine
- Cardiology
Background:
- Preventive health care is crucial for children, especially those with chronic conditions like heart disease.
- Assessing preventive practices in pediatric cardiology is essential for optimizing health outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate and compare preventive health care practices between children with heart disease and healthy controls.
- To identify potential disparities in healthcare delivery and understand contributing factors.
Main Methods:
- Survey of 499 families with children in outpatient settings.
- Comparison of 215 children with heart disease against 284 healthy control children.
- Data collection on physician utilization, immunization status, dental care, and out-of-pocket healthcare expenses.
Main Results:
- No significant difference in primary physician type or visit frequency between groups.
- Incomplete immunizations were significantly higher in children with heart disease (32.7%) versus controls (2.5%).
- Children with heart disease had similar rates of routine dental care but lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs compared to controls.
Conclusions:
- Significant neglect of preventive health care, particularly immunizations, exists in children with heart disease.
- Cost is not the primary barrier to inadequate preventive care delivery in this population.
- Educational interventions for healthcare professionals and parents are recommended to improve care.
Abstract:
In order to evaluate the preventive health care practices in children with heart disease, 499 families were surveyed in outpatient settings. Data were collected on 215 children with heart disease and 284 control children without known chronic illness. There was no significant difference between the groups in the type of primary physician utilized or frequency of visits to the primary care physician. Immunizations were incomplete in 32.7% of the children with heart disease compared to only 2.5% in the control group (P less than 0.0001). Among the children over 3 years of age with heart disease, 29% had not received routine dental care within the past year compared with 23.4% in the controls (P = NS). The parents of children with heart disease were found to pay less money out-of-pocket for their child's health care than the parents of control children (P less than 0.0001). The data suggest that important aspects of primary health care were neglected in a large group of children with heart disease and that cost was not a major cause for the inadequate preventive care delivery. An educational program directed at health care professionals and parents is proposed.