Bibliometric Analysis of Research Studies Based on Federally Funded Children's Health Surveys.

OBJECTIVE: Bibliometric analyses are commonly used to measure the productivity of researchers or institutions but rarely used to assess the scientific contribution of national surveys/datasets. We applied bibliometric methods to quantify the contributions of the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) to the body of pediatric health-related research. We also examined dissemination to nonresearch audiences by analyzing media coverage of statistics and research produced from the surveys. METHODS: We conducted a search of the Web of Science database to identify peer-reviewed articles related to the NSCH and NS-CSHCN published between 2002 and 2019. We summarized information about citation counts, publishing journals, key research areas, and institutions using the surveys. We used the Lexis Advance database Nexis to assess media coverage. RESULTS: The publication set included 716 NSCH/NS-CSHCN journal articles published between 2002 and June 2019. These publications have in turn been cited 22,449 times, including in 1614 review articles. Over 180 journals have published NSCH/NS-CSHCN articles, and the most commonly covered research areas are in pediatrics; public, environmental and occupational health; psychology; and health care sciences and services. Over 500 institutions have used NSCH/NS-CSHCN data to publish journal articles, and over 950 news media articles have cited statistics or research produced by the surveys. CONCLUSIONS: NSCH/NS-CSHCN data are widely used by government, academic, and media institutions. Bibliometric methods provide a systematic approach to quantify and describe the contributions to the scientific literature made possible with these data.

Epidemiological Profile of Health and Behaviors in Middle Childhood.

OBJECTIVES: In this study, we present an epidemiological profile of middle childhood (children aged 6-11 years) using the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health. METHODS: We used data from the 2016 and 2017 National Survey of Children's Health, a national cross-sectional, address-based survey administered annually. The study sample included 21 539 children aged 6 to 11 years. Survey items chosen to create this profile of middle childhood described sociodemographic and family characteristics, health status, and behaviors. Weighted descriptive and bivariate analyses were applied to examine the population and differences by subgroups. RESULTS: Most children aged 6 to 11 years were in excellent or very good physical health (89%) and oral health (73%). More than 20% were considered to have special health care needs, and 20% had at least 2 health conditions. Allergies and asthma were the most prevalent physical conditions, whereas attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and behavioral or conduct problems were the most prevalent of emotional, behavioral, and/or developmental disorders. More than half of children participated in sports or other activities for at least 60 minutes per day, whereas more than one-third of children had ≥4 hours of parent-reported screen time per day, and nearly two-thirds received ≥9 hours of sleep per night. We found several significant differences in screen time and activity behaviors as children aged and by sex. CONCLUSIONS: The middle-childhood population is generally healthy, yet several patterns observed with respect to age and sex indicate a need to examine the emergence and progression of select health-risk behaviors. In this study, we highlight opportunities to implement targeted interventions at earlier ages and different points along the life course.

The role of school-based health centers in increasing universal and targeted delivery of primary and preventive care among adolescents.

BACKGROUND: School-based health centers (SBHC) can provide equitable and comprehensive care for adolescents; yet, few studies have described how patterns of health service utilization differ among groups. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in utilization and perceptions of SBHC care among adolescents. METHODS: This study sample included 414 adolescent respondents to the Healthy Schools, Healthy Communities User Survey. Three outcome measures represented utilization of care, while 4 represented perceptions of care. Multivariate logistic regressions modeled the effects of user characteristics on outcome measures. RESULTS: There were few notable and significant differences in either utilization or perceptions of care, based on sociodemographic or health status characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: SBHCs can eliminate differences in utilization based on sociodemographic characteristics. However, null findings show that they fall short in delivering comprehensive care to high-risk adolescents, and may not be capitalizing on opportunities to offer targeted services. Results showing positive perceptions of care suggest that adolescents would be amenable to additional counseling or education services offered at SBHCs. To foster positive health outcomes among adolescents, SBHC administrators should regularly evaluate their scope of services and support quality improvement efforts.