A group of Delaware researchers recently published a paper detailing the results of their investigation into pediatric care engagement during COVID-19 revealing persistent health disparities equal to pre-pandemic levels.
According to the paper, “Persistent Disparities in Pediatric Health Care Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” published in Public Health Reports earlier this month, pre-existing racial, ethnic, and neighborhood-level disparities in ambulatory care visit completion rates generally persisted during the pandemic.
“The exponential increase in telehealth during the pandemic reduced the disparity in visit completion rates for many populations but did not eliminate disparities completely.”
Excerpt from the paper, “Persistent Disparities in Pediatric Health Care Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
The Delaware Clinical and Translational Research ACCEL Program research team and paper’s authors included:
- Principal Investigator: Thao-Ly T. Phan, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
- Principal Investigator: Paul T. Enlow, PhD, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
- Amanda M. Lewis, MPH, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital
- Kamyar Arasteh, PhD, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital
- Aimee K. Hildenbrand, PhD, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
- Julia Price, PhD, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
- Corinna L. Schultz, MD, MSHP, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
- Victoria Reynolds, BS, Department of Biomedical Research at Nemours Children’s Health Delaware
- Anne E. Kazak, PhD, ABPP, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
- Melissa A. Alderfer, PhD, Department of Pediatrics and Nemours Center for Healthcare Delivery Science at Nemours Children’s Hospital; Department of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University
The research was funded through an ACCEL COVID-19 Rapid Science Grant in 2020.