Unmet needs for vision care among children with gaps in health insurance coverage.
Journal
Journal of AAPOS : the official publication of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
ISSN: 1528-3933
Titre abrégé: J AAPOS
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 9710011
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
04 2022
04 2022
Historique:
received:
02
09
2021
revised:
12
12
2021
accepted:
16
12
2021
pubmed:
20
3
2022
medline:
12
5
2022
entrez:
19
3
2022
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Access to vision care is essential for diagnosing and treating vision impairments. Gaps in health insurance coverage may prevent children from receiving vision care and lead to unmet needs for vision services. This study used deidentified data on children 3-17 years of age from the 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health. The primary outcome was caregiver-reported unmet needs for vision care in the previous 12 months. Based on a sample of 106,876 children, 3.8% of US children had a recent gap in coverage, and 5.0% lacked insurance in the entire year leading up to the survey. The estimated population prevalence of caregiver-reported unmet needs for vision care was 0.7%. However, children with gaps in coverage had almost 19-fold higher odds of having caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs (OR = 18.7; 95% CI, 11.5-30.2; P < 0.001), and children with a complete lack of coverage also had a ninefold higher odds of caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs (OR = 9.5; 95% CI, 5.5-16.4; P < 0.001), compared to children with year-round private coverage. In the 2018-2019 data, results were similar when analyzing completion of routine vision testing within the past 12 months. Children with gaps in coverage had the highest likelihood of caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs compared with children with year-round coverage or children with year-round lack of coverage.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
Access to vision care is essential for diagnosing and treating vision impairments. Gaps in health insurance coverage may prevent children from receiving vision care and lead to unmet needs for vision services.
METHODS
This study used deidentified data on children 3-17 years of age from the 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health. The primary outcome was caregiver-reported unmet needs for vision care in the previous 12 months.
RESULTS
Based on a sample of 106,876 children, 3.8% of US children had a recent gap in coverage, and 5.0% lacked insurance in the entire year leading up to the survey. The estimated population prevalence of caregiver-reported unmet needs for vision care was 0.7%. However, children with gaps in coverage had almost 19-fold higher odds of having caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs (OR = 18.7; 95% CI, 11.5-30.2; P < 0.001), and children with a complete lack of coverage also had a ninefold higher odds of caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs (OR = 9.5; 95% CI, 5.5-16.4; P < 0.001), compared to children with year-round private coverage. In the 2018-2019 data, results were similar when analyzing completion of routine vision testing within the past 12 months.
CONCLUSIONS
Children with gaps in coverage had the highest likelihood of caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs compared with children with year-round coverage or children with year-round lack of coverage.
Identifiants
pubmed: 35304321
pii: S1091-8531(22)00046-5
doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2021.12.005
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
63.e1-63.e4Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2022 American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.