Rural Barriers to Surgical Care for Children With Sleep‐Disordered Breathing

Objective To assess the impact of rural‐urban residence on children with obstructive sleep‐disordered breathing (SDB) who were candidates for tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy (TA). Study Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary children’s hospital. Methods A cohort of otherwise healthy children aged 2 to 18 years with a diagnosis of obstructive SDB between April 2016 and December 2018 who were recommended TA were included. Rural‐urban designation was defined by ZIP code approximation of rural‐urban commuting area codes. The main outcome was association of rurality with time to TA and loss to follow‐up using Cox and logistic regression analyses. Results In total, 213 patients were included (mean age 6 ± 2.9 years, 117 [55%] male, 69 [32%] rural dwelling). Rural‐dwelling children were more often insured by Medicaid than private insurance ( P<. 001) and had a median driving distance of 74.8 vs 16.8 miles ( P<. 001) compared to urban‐dwelling patients. The majority (94.9%) eventually underwent recommended TA once evaluated by an otolaryngologist. Multivariable logistic regression analysis did not reveal any significant predictors for loss to follow‐up in receiving TA. Cox regression analysis that adjusted for age, sex, insurance, and race showed that rural‐dwelling patients had a 30% reduction in receipt of TA over time as compared to urban‐dwelling patients (hazard ratio, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.50‐0.99). Conclusion Rural‐dwelling patients experienced longer wait times and driving distance to TA. This study suggests that rurality should be considered a potential barrier to surgical intervention and highlights the need to further investigate geographic access as an important determinant of care in pediatric SDB..

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:166

Enthalten in:

Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery - 166(2022), 6, Seite 1127-1133

Beteiligte Personen:

Yan, Flora [VerfasserIn]
Levy, Dylan A. [VerfasserIn]
Wen, Chun‐Che [VerfasserIn]
Melvin, Cathy L. [VerfasserIn]
Ford, Marvella E. [VerfasserIn]
Nietert, Paul J. [VerfasserIn]
Pecha, Phayvanh P. [VerfasserIn]

BKL:

44.94

Anmerkungen:

© 2022 American Association of Otolaryngology‐Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO‐HNSF)

Umfang:

7

doi:

10.1177/0194599821993383

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

WLY011891947