Faculty Collaboration Database

Disparities for latino children in the timely receipt of medical care. Ambul Pediatr 2005;5(6):319-25

Date

11/24/2005

Pubmed ID

16302832

DOI

10.1367/A04-203R1.1

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-28944451790 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   32 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: It is not known whether Latino children, the largest minority population in the United States, experience disparities in the timeliness of their access to health care. We compared timeliness of care among Latino, white, and African American children.

DESIGN: cross-sectional cohort from the 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

PATIENTS: children with a usual source of care.

OUTCOME MEASURE: timeliness of care was assessed using parent reports of their child's 1) routine care, 2) illness care, 3) phone help, and 4) experiencing of a brief wait time.

ANALYSIS: multiple logistic regression was used to determine the adjusted odds of not always receiving timely medical care.

RESULTS: Four-thousand one-hundred twenty children were included. Latino children were less likely to always (P < .05) receive timely care compared with whites and African Americans, respectively, in 3 areas: routine care, phone help, and brief wait time. Multiple regression revealed decreased relative risks (RR, 95% CI) of always receiving timely medical care for Latinos in the same areas: routine care, compared with whites (0.88, 0.79-0.98) and African Americans (0.81, 0.70-0.93); phone help, compared with whites (0.84, 0.76-0.92) and African Americans (0.86, 0.76-0.960); and brief wait time, compared with whites (0.71, 0.65-0.80) and African Americans (0.81, 0.70-0.92). With parental survey language in the model, Latinos experienced decreased timeliness of care for routine care compared with African Americans (0.85, 0.72-0.98); phone help compared with whites (0.87, 0.77-0.96); and brief wait times compared with whites (0.79, 0.71-0.87).

CONCLUSIONS: Latino children experience marked disparities in obtaining timely medical care, only some of which is associated with language differences.

Author List

Brousseau DC, Hoffmann RG, Yauck J, Nattinger AB, Flores G

Author

Ann B. Nattinger MD, MPH Associate Provost, Professor in the Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Child
Cohort Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Delivery of Health Care
Female
Humans
Male
Time Factors