Analysis of Social Determinants and the Utilization of Pediatric Tele-Urgent Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study.
JMIR Pediatr Parent
; 4(3): e25873, 2021 Aug 30.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34459742
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Telehealth is increasingly used to provide specialty consultations to infants and children receiving care. However, there is uncertainty if the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the use of telehealth among vulnerable populations.OBJECTIVE:
This research aims to compare the overall use of tele-urgent care visits for pediatric patients before and after the pandemic, especially among vulnerable populations.METHODS:
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of pediatric tele-urgent care visits at a virtual care center at a southeastern health care center. The main outcome of this study was the use of pediatrics tele-urgent visits across geographical regions with different levels of social disparities and between 2019 and 2020.RESULTS:
Of 584 tele-urgent care visits, 388 (66.4%) visits occurred in 2020 during the pandemic compared to 196 (33.6%) visits in 2019. Among 808 North Carolina zip codes, 181 (22%) consisted of a high concentration of vulnerable populations, where 17.7% (56/317) of the tele-urgent care visits originated from. The majority (215/317, 67.8%) of tele-urgent care visits originated from zip codes with a low concentration of vulnerable populations. There was a significant association between the rate of COVID-19 cases and the concentration level of social factors in a given Zip Code Tabulation Area.CONCLUSIONS:
The use of tele-urgent care visits for pediatric care doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the tele-urgent care visits after COVID-19 originated from regions where there is a low presence of vulnerable populations. In addition, our geospatial analysis found that geographic regions with a high concentration of vulnerable populations had a significantly higher rate of COVID-19-confirmed cases and deaths compared to regions with a low concentration of vulnerable populations.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Equity_inequality
Language:
En
Journal:
JMIR Pediatr Parent
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States