Pediatric ICU rates linked to housing quality, income, education

Healio highlighted research led by the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital's Carlie Myers, MD, that found a link between pediatric ICU (PICU) admission rates and housing quality, household income and education.

“Neighborhood-level inequities in transportation infrastructure, housing quality, education and financial disadvantage are a few key drivers related to disparities associated with increased incidence of [pediatric ICU (PICU)] admission,” Myers, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics in UC's College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children's PICU attending physician and member of the Division of Critical Care Medicine, and colleagues wrote in the study published in the journal CHEST.

Myers and colleagues assessed 2,476 PICU patients living in the city of Baltimore or Baltimore County admitted between January 2016 and December 2019 to find out if neighborhood-level disadvantage indicators are linked to PICU admission through regression analysis.

During regression analysis, researchers noted a link between the percentage of families living below the poverty line and more PICU admissions. The rate of PICU admissions was also elevated in areas made up of more vacant housing units in both regions of Baltimore.

Additionally, researchers found a 9% reduction in PICU admissions per $10,000 rise in median household income

“As health care reform focuses on minimizing cost and optimizing value and equity, knowledge of the relationships between PICU resource use and socioeconomic disparities becomes relevant,” Myers and colleagues wrote. “Exploring disparities within the PICU based on neighborhood-level markers of deprivation can guide sociopolitical policy for the advancement of child health.”

Read the Healio article.

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