Disparities in utilization of outpatient surgical care among children
Topic overview
Study of 10,162 pediatric surgery patients reveals significant disparities in outpatient clinic attendance, with neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, Black race, and public insurance strongly associated with missed appointments. Similar patterns persist in postoperative follow-up care, suggesting systemic barriers may contribute to disparate surgical outcomes among disadvantaged children.
Key takeaways
- 16% of pediatric surgery patients missed at least one clinic appointment, with 20% no-show rate for postoperative visits after appendectomy/hernia repair.
- Children from the most socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods had 3.17x higher odds of missing appointments compared to least deprived areas.
- Black race (OR 3.30) and public insurance (OR 2.75) were independently associated with increased clinic no-shows after adjusting for other factors.
- Neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage, measured by Area Deprivation Index, is a significant barrier to accessing pediatric surgical care.
- Disparities in outpatient follow-up access may contribute to worse surgical outcomes among disadvantaged pediatric populations.
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