Association of County-Level Availability of Pediatricians With Emergency Department Visits.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

The relationship between pediatrician availability and emergency department (ED) attendance is uncertain. We determined whether children in counties with more pediatricians had fewer ED visits.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of all ED visits among children younger than 18 years from 6 states. We obtained ED visit incidences by county and assessed the relationship to pediatrician density (pediatricians per 1000 children). Possible confounders included state, presence of an urgent care facility in the county, urban-rural status, and quartile of county-level characteristics: English-speaking, Internet access, White race, socioeconomic status, and public insurance. We estimated county-level changes in incidence by pediatrician density adjusting for state

SUBMITTER: Michelson KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8770659 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature