Reasons for Unmet Health Care Needs Among Black, Hispanic, and White Children in the United States With or at Risk for Physical and Mental Health Conditions.

Children with special health care needs (CSHCN)-ie, children who are at increased risk for, or currently manage, persistent physical and mental health conditions-require more health care resources than children without special health care needs. Furthermore, CSHCN who identify as racial/ethnic minorities disproportionately encounter unmet needs, according to reports from their caregivers. However, the reasons for their unmet needs are relatively unknown. This study estimated and compared the US national prevalence of caregiver-reported reasons for unmet health care needs for Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, and non-Hispanic white CSHCN. The most common reasons were problems getting an appointment for black CSHCN and cost for Hispanic and white CSHCN. Issues related to transportation were significantly less likely for black than for white and Hispanic CSHCN. Cost-related issues were significantly less likely for black than Hispanic CSHCN. To address reasons for unmet needs for CSHCN, effective structural changes are needed.

Youth Access to Medical Homes and Medical Home Components by Race and Ethnicity.

OBJECTIVES: Medical homes are an effective model of primary care. Historically, however, racial and ethnic minorities have not had equal access to medical homes. The present study estimated the national prevalence of youth's access to a medical home and its components by race and ethnicity. METHODS: We conducted secondary data analysis using the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of U.S. youth age 0-17 years (N = 62,308). We obtained weighted and unweighted descriptive statistics and conducted multivariate logit regression models. RESULTS: Although 49% of the total sample had access to a medical home, 57.1% of white youth had access compared to 37% of Hispanic youth and 39.7% of black youth. Among youth without a medical home, black youth had less access than white youth to a usual place for care (64.7% vs. 55.3%, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.97) and family-centered care (78.1% vs. 66.7%, aOR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.52-0.79). Hispanic youth (68.2%) also had less access to family-centered care than white youth (aOR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.60-0.89). White youth were less likely to have access to effective care coordination, when needed, than Hispanic youth (46.2% vs. 53.5%, aOR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.09-1.66). CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE: Our findings suggest racial/ethnic disparities exist in youth's access to a medical home and its components. We posit the need for continued efforts to enhance access to medical homes for all youth. Future studies need to examine systemic barriers to youth's access to medical homes.

Analysis of spin in the reporting of studies of topical treatments of photoaged skin.

BACKGROUND: Spin-reporting that distorts the interpretation of results-is not unusual within scientific literature. OBJECTIVE: To appraise strategies of spin among placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trials of topical treatments for photoaged skin. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was performed to identify placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trials of topical treatments for photoaged skin. A survey of spin strategies was developed and applied to the cohort of identified studies. RESULTS: The systematic review led to the identification of 20 studies in which various types of spin strategies, broadly classified as either inappropriate statistical analyses or inappropriate interpretation of results, were used. The most commonly used strategies included use of multiple primary outcomes (95%), inappropriate extrapolation of results from specific outcomes to global improvements (95%), focus on within-group comparisons (75%), and focus on interim analyses to give more weight to nonsignificant findings (65%). LIMITATIONS: Classification of spin strategies was subjective and might not encompass all the methods used in the published literature. CONCLUSION: Findings in this study inform efforts to reduce spin in the dermatologic literature.