Disparity in children

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has had a disproportionate impact on Black, low-income, and elderly individuals. We recruited 175 predominantly white children ages 5-12 and their parents (N = 112) and asked which of two individuals (differing in age, gender, race, social class, or personality) was more likely to get sick with either COVID-19 or the common cold and why. Children and parents reported that older adults were more likely to get sick than younger adults, but reported few differences based on gender, race, social class, or personality...

BACKGROUND: Disparities in child healthcare service utilization are unacceptably high in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, little is known about underlying barriers to accessing child health services, especially among low socioeconomic subgroups and in remote areas. This study aims to identify barriers to equity in the use of child healthcare services in Ethiopia. METHODS: Data were obtained from 20 key- informant interviews (KII) and 6 focus group discussions (FGD) with mothers and care givers...

Background: Increased availability of telehealth can improve access to health care. However, there is evidence of persistent disparities in telehealth usage, as well as among people from minoritized racial and ethnic groups and rural residents. The objective of our work was to explore the degree to which disparities in telehealth use for behavioral health (BH) and musculoskeletal (MSK) related services during the COVID-19 pandemic are explained by observed beneficiary- and area-level characteristics. Methods: Using North Carolina Medicaid claims data of Medicaid beneficiaries with BH or MSK conditions, we apply nonlinear regression-based decomposition analysis-based models developed by Kitagawa, Oaxaca, and Blinder to determine which observed variables are associated with racial, ethnic, and rural inequalities in telehealth usage...

BACKGROUND: Establishing effective pharmacovigilance systems globally is challenging due to the need for comprehensive epidemiological data on pharmacovigilance-related events, particularly in countries at different stages of development. AIM: This study aimed to determine magnitude and drivers of change in the global and regional burden of pharmacovigilance-related events from 1990 to 2019, analyzing variations between age groups and sex, providing data support for policymakers to adjust their pharmacovigilance policies...

BACKGROUND: To explore trends of the association between body mass index (BMI) and age at menarche or spermarche and its urban-rural disparities from 1995 to 2019. METHODS: A total of 912 753 children and adolescents - including 519 940 9-18 years old girls and 392 813 11-18 years old boys - were involved in six successive cross-sectional surveys conducted across 30 provinces in China from 1995 to 2019. Data on menarche and spermarche was collected using the status quo method, where same-gender physicians conducted face-to-face interviews to determine if children and adolescents had experienced their first menstrual cycle or ejaculation (yes/no)...

BACKGROUND: The urban-rural disparities in overweight and obesity among children and adolescents are narrowing, and there is a need for long-term and updated data to explain this inequality, understand the underlying mechanisms, and identify priority groups for interventions. METHODS: We analyzed data from seven rounds of the Chinese National Survey on Students Constitution and Health (CNSSCH) conducted from 1985 to 2019, focusing on school-age children and adolescents aged 7-18 years...

OBJECTIVES: To quantify levels of coexisting obesity and caries experience in children in Scotland, and any associated socioeconomic inequalities over the years 2011/2012-2017/2018. DESIGN: A multicohort population-wide data linkage study. SETTING: Local authority primary schools in Scotland. PATIENTS: 335 361 primary 1 (approximately 5 years old) schoolchildren in Scotland between 2011/2012 and 2017/2018. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence and inequalities in coexisting caries and obesity...

BACKGROUND: Stunting poses a significant health risk to adolescent girls aged 15-19 in low- and middle-income countries, leading to lower education levels, reduced productivity, increased disease vulnerability, and intergenerational malnutrition. Despite the inclusion of adolescent nutrition services in the Sustainable Development Goals, little progress has been made in addressing malnutrition among adolescent girls in several African nations. Limited evidence exists in East Africa due to small sample sizes and methodological limitations...

Background: Understanding how different populations respond to a childhood obesity intervention could help optimize personalized treatment strategies, especially with the goal to reduce disparities in obesity. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of the Greenlight Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial, a health communication focused pediatric obesity prevention trial, to evaluate for heterogeneity of treatment effect (HTE) by child biological sex, caregiver BMI, caregiver reported race and ethnicity, primary language, and health literacy...

BACKGROUND: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) issues infant formula to infants who are not fully breastfed, and prior research found elevated obesity risk among children receiving lactose-reduced infant formula with corn syrup solids (CSSF) issued by WIC. This study was conducted to evaluate associations between a broader set of specialty infant formulas issued by WIC and child obesity risk, whether neighborhood context (e.g. neighborhood food environment) modifies associations, and whether racial/ethnic disparities in obesity are partly explained by infant formula exposure and neighborhood context...

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial stress and psychopathology frequently co-occur, with patterns differing by race and ethnicity. We used statistical mixtures methodology to examine associations between prenatal stress and child temperament in N = 382 racially and ethnically diverse maternal-child dyads to disentangle associations among maternal stressful life events, maternal psychological functioning in pregnancy, childhood neurobehavior, and maternal race and ethnicity. METHODS: This study utilized data from a longitudinal pregnancy cohort, PRogramming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms (PRISM)...

INTRODUCTION: This global survey evaluated the practices and adherence to international Clinical Practice Consensus Guidelines (CPCG) of physicians involved in pediatric diabetes care regarding screening, prevention and treatment of vascular complications of type 1 diabetes (T1D). METHOD: A web-based survey gathering data about respondents' background, practices related to screening, prevention, and treatment of diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy and macrovascular diseases and a self-assessment of physicians' knowledge based on the ISPAD CPCG 2018 was shared by ISPAD...

With a growing 25.5 million people in the United States experiencing limited-English proficiency (LEP), there is a concern over these individuals' experiences in healthcare. Health outcomes of LEP status are well-documented for adults in hospitals; however, less is known about patient experience, pediatric populations, and primary care settings. This study investigated differences in caregiver satisfaction between families with and without LEP receiving healthcare for their child. A sample of 25,118 caregivers whose children from birth to 17 years had met with any healthcare providers in the past year was used...

IMPORTANCE: Parents' overdose death can have a profound short- and long-term impact on their children, yet little is known about the number of children who have lost a parent to drug overdose in the US. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the number and rate of children who have lost a parent to drug overdose from 2011 to 2021 overall and by parental age, sex, and race and ethnicity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a cross-sectional study of US community-dwelling persons using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2010-2014 and 2015-2019) and the National Vital Statistics System (2011-2021)...

African American women are at disproportionate risk of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) and consistently report more severe and recurrent IPV victimization in comparison to their White and Hispanic counterparts. IPV is more likely to occur in families with children than in couples without children. Parenting in the wake of IPV is a challenging reality faced by many African American women in the United States. Despite the urgent need to support mothers who have survived IPV, there is currently no culturally adapted parenting intervention for African American mothers following exposure to IPV...

BACKGROUND: In Mexico, this pioneering research was undertaken to assess the accessibility of timely diagnosis of Dyads [Children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and their primary caregivers] at specialized mental health services. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved designing an "Access Pathway" aimed to identify barriers and facilitators for ADHD diagnosis; several barriers, with only the teacher being identified as a facilitator...

IMPORTANCE: Symptom burden and its characteristics among survivors of pediatric cancers aged 8 to 18 years remain understudied. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence of symptom burden among young childhood cancer survivors and identify associations with sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological resilience skills, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional analysis using data collected from November 1, 2017, to January 31, 2019, in a survivorship clinic at a US-based comprehensive cancer center was conducted...

Rates of COVID-19 and influenza vaccine coverage among Hispanic young children continue to be low in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. This study utilized a person-centered approach to understand COVID-19 and influenza vaccination hesitancy for young children under the age of five among 309 economically marginalized Hispanic mothers. Drawing on the cultural health belief model, in 2022, following FDA approval of the COVID-19 vaccine for young children, a latent profile analysis was conducted from which three profiles emerged...

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in high death rates globally, and over 10.5 million children lost a parent or primary caregiver. Because HIV-related orphanhood has been associated with elevated HIV risk, we sought to examine HIV risk in children affected by COVID-19 orphanhood. Four hundred and twenty-one children and adolescents were interviewed, measuring seven HIV risk behaviours: condom use, age-disparate sex, transactional sex, multiple partners, sex associated with drugs/alcohol, mental health and social risks...

The World Health Organization's (WHO) designation of noma as a neglected tropical disease (NTD) on 15 December 2023 marks a crucial advancement in global health efforts. This move sheds light on a condition predominantly affecting undernourished children in isolated regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Recognized as the 21st NTD, noma, or cancrum oris, is a serious condition leading to orofacial gangrene. The disease largely impacts young children and those with compromised immune systems, including individuals with human immunodeficiency virus or leukaemia...