Equal start? The impact of social determinants on young children's health

Background. Early childhood is the age cohort with the highest percentage of poverty both nationally and in Colorado. Young children living in poverty and social disadvantage tend to have poorer health outcomes than their more affluent peers. The connection between physical health and learning in the early childhood population is well documented. In order to quantify health disparities for young children in Colorado, data from the Colorado Child Health Survey (CHS) were analyzed by income and ethnicity. Methods. The CHS is a callback survey from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Adult respondents to the BRFSS with a child between the ages of 1-14 are offered the opportunity to complete the child health survey. Approximately 2-5 days later, the parent is called to complete the survey on a variety of topics including their child's physical activity, nutrition, access to health and dental care, behavioral health, injury and others. Data are collected over the calendar year and weighted to reflect the general population of children 1-14 years old in Colorado. For this analysis, data from calendar years 2005-2008 were combined and results for children ages 1-5 were included, for a total of 1,941 observations. Selected health indicators were examined based on two socio-demographic factors: income and ethnicity. Results. The results reflect numerous and significant health disparities for low income and Hispanic children ages 1-5 in Colorado with regard to health access, health status, nutrition, and other areas. The significance of these results for early childhood systems will be discussed.