Economy-Sensitive Conditions: Are Some Pediatric Hospitalizations Triggered By Economic Recessions?

ABSTRACT: The impact of economic recessions on child health is complex and varied. Here we examine associations between county-level unemployment and pediatric hospitalizations in fourteen states every third year from 2002 to 2014. After adjusting for state-specific effects of unemployment across all counties and years, we found that increased unemployment was associated with increased pediatric hospitalizations for four potentially economy-sensitive conditions, such that a 1 percent increase in unemployment was associated with a 5 percent increase in hospitalizations for substance abuse, a 4 percent increase for diabetes mellitus, and a 2 percent increase both for children with medical complexity and for poisoning and burns. Mean pediatric all-cause hospitalizations increased by 2 percent for every

SUBMITTER: Colvin JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8721748 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature