Citation

Hisle-Gorman E, Susi A, Gorman GH. Health Aff. (Hope) 2019; 38(8): 1358-1365.

Affiliation

Gregory H. Gorman is an associate professor of pediatrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation)

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00276

PMID

31381386

Abstract

Parental injuries and illnesses affect child and family life. We hypothesized that military parental injury would adversely affect children's preventive care, injuries, maltreatment, mental health care, and psychiatric medication prescriptions. Visit and prescription data of 485,002 military-connected children ages 2-16 were tracked for two years before and two years after the injury of a parent in the period 2004-14. Adjusted negative binomial regression compared pre- and post-injury visit and prescription rates. Children with injured parents had decreased rates of preventive care visits and increased rates of visits for injuries, maltreatment, and mental health care, as well as increased psychiatric medication use, following their parent's injury. Across all categories of care, children of parents with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), both alone and with traumatic brain injury, appeared to have more pronounced changes in care patterns. Parental injury and illness are associated with changes in children's health care use, and PTSD in a parent increases the effect.

Language: en

Keywords

Child Health; Child Wellbeing; Injured Parents; military