Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #98071

Kevin C. Heslin, PhD¹, Richard Casey, MD², Magda A. Shaheen, MD, PhD, MS, MPH³, Fernando Cardenas, MS³, and Richard S. Baker, MD³. (1) Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI), Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, 1731 E. 120th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90059, 310-761-4726, keheslin@cdrewu.edu, (2) Ophthalmology, Charles R. Drew University, 1731 E. 120th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90059, (3) RCMI, Charles R. Drew University, 1731 East 120th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90059

All children need periodic vision screening and, if indicated, services to optimize visual functioning. This study examined racial/ethnic differences in unmet need for vision care in a representative sample of children with special health care needs (CSHCN). The National Survey of CSHCN was a cross-sectional survey of U.S. households with children under age 18. This analysis was restricted to 14,070 households (36% of the total sample) in which respondents said that their child needed eyeglasses or vision care in the previous 12 months. If the respondent answered “no” to the question, “Did your child receive all the eyeglasses or vision care he or she needed?” the child was considered to have unmet need for vision care. Bivariate analyses showed that 5% of whites, 9% of African Americans, 6% of American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 3% of Asians/Pacific Islanders, 10% of Latinos, 14% of multiracial children, and 11% of children of “other” backgrounds did not receive all the vision care they needed in the previous 12 months. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the independent association of race/ethnicity with unmet need, and odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Compared with whites, African Americans had approximately twice the odds (OR=2.30;CI=1.55,3.39) and multiracial children and children of “other” backgrounds had approximately three times the odds of having unmet need (respectively, OR=3.21;CI=1.62,6.37; and OR=2.97;CI=1.07,8.23). Conversely, American Indians/Alaskan Natives had one-third the odds of unmet need that whites had (OR=0.33;CI=0.11,0.99). Programs should target CSHCN to reduce racial/ethnic differences in unmet need for vision care.

Learning Objectives:

• The objective of this study was to estimate racial and ethnic differences in unmet need for primary vision care services among children with special health care needs.

Keywords: Children With Special Needs, Vision Care

Related Web page: www.cdrewu.edu/rcmi/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.