TY - JOUR
T1 - III Health and use of medical care
T2 - Community-based assessment of morbidity in children
AU - Clemente Diaz, C.
AU - Starfield, B.
AU - Holtzman, N.
AU - Mellits, E. D.
AU - Hankin, J.
AU - Smalky, K.
AU - Benson, P.
PY - 1986/9
Y1 - 1986/9
N2 - The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between morbidity and ambulatory care utilization in a randomly selected sample of children with stable patterns of use of services in a prepaid multispecialty group practice. The unique features of the approach were a focus on long-term relationships (over 8 years) and on assessment of health status by a combination of parent reports, child reports, teacher reports, and physical examination. Domains of health status that were assessed included types and frequencies of health conditions and disability associated with them, functional status (physical health, mental health, social health, general well-being), school absence, vision and hearing screening, and physical abnormalities. Children with persistently high levels of use of services in a 6-year period (1974-79) were more likely to have health problems of all types, both concurrent and in a subsequent 2-year period (1980-81) than children with lower levels of use. As these findings were in agreement with those obtained in a study where morbidity was determined by diagnoses recorded in medical records, it is likely that the measures could be more generally useful to assess child health status in the community. Moreover, they distinguish groups of children who differ in their pattern of use of services and hence may be useful in the planning and budgeting of services for child populations.
AB - The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between morbidity and ambulatory care utilization in a randomly selected sample of children with stable patterns of use of services in a prepaid multispecialty group practice. The unique features of the approach were a focus on long-term relationships (over 8 years) and on assessment of health status by a combination of parent reports, child reports, teacher reports, and physical examination. Domains of health status that were assessed included types and frequencies of health conditions and disability associated with them, functional status (physical health, mental health, social health, general well-being), school absence, vision and hearing screening, and physical abnormalities. Children with persistently high levels of use of services in a 6-year period (1974-79) were more likely to have health problems of all types, both concurrent and in a subsequent 2-year period (1980-81) than children with lower levels of use. As these findings were in agreement with those obtained in a study where morbidity was determined by diagnoses recorded in medical records, it is likely that the measures could be more generally useful to assess child health status in the community. Moreover, they distinguish groups of children who differ in their pattern of use of services and hence may be useful in the planning and budgeting of services for child populations.
KW - Health care utilization
KW - Health status assessment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0022780591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0022780591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/00005650-198609000-00006
DO - 10.1097/00005650-198609000-00006
M3 - Article
C2 - 3762248
AN - SCOPUS:0022780591
SN - 0025-7079
VL - 24
SP - 848
EP - 856
JO - Medical care
JF - Medical care
IS - 9
ER -