Changes in adolescents’ planned hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of linked administrative data
Year: 2022
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To describe changes in planned hospital care during the pandemic for vulnerable adolescents receiving children's social care (CSC) services or special educational needs (SEN) support, relative to their peers. DESIGN: Observational cohort in the Education and Child Health Insights from Linked Data database (linked de-identified administrative health, education and social care records of all children in England). STUDY POPULATION: All secondary school pupils in years 7-11 in academic year 2019/2020 (N=3 030 235). MAIN EXPOSURE: Receiving SEN support or CSC services. MAIN OUTCOMES: Changes in outpatient attendances and planned hospital admissions during the first 9 months of the pandemic (23 March-31 December 2020), estimated by comparing predicted with observed numbers and rates per 1000 child-years. RESULTS: A fifth of pupils (20.5%) received some form of statutory support: 14.2% received SEN support only, 3.6% received CSC services only and 2.7% received both. Decreases in planned hospital care were greater for these vulnerable adolescents than their peers: -290 vs -225 per 1000 child-years for outpatient attendances and -36 vs -16 per 1000 child-years for planned admissions. Overall, 21% of adolescents who were vulnerable disproportionately bore 25% of the decrease in outpatient attendances and 37% of the decrease in planned hospital admissions. Vulnerable adolescents were less likely than their peers to have face-to-face outpatient care. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that socially vulnerable groups of children have high health needs, which may need to be prioritised to ensure equitable provision, including for catch-up of planned care postpandemic.
Source: Archives of Disease in Childhood
Institution: University College London
Language: English
Subfield: Oncology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: Evaluating the real-world implementation of the Family Nurse Partnership: a data linkage study, G1945351895, NIHR Senior Investigator Award, NIHR Senior Investigator Award, Efficient and transparent methods for linking and analysing longitudinal population studies and administrative data, Linking health and education data for research to improve outcomes for children in England - Supplement, G5461055759, Linking health and education data for research to improve outcomes for children in England, G6238742689, Social contagion? : using data science to characterise the distribution and dispersion of health behaviours in adolescence
OpenAlex ID: W4280638899