Citation

McDaniel CE, Hall M, Markham JL, Bettenhausen JL, Berry JG. Pediatrics 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American Academy of Pediatrics)

DOI

10.1542/peds.2023-061256

PMID

37139706

Abstract

The 12 000 000 children in the United States who live in rural communities experience poorer health status and limited access to pediatric health care relative to children from urban areas.1 For mental health (MH) conditions, rural disparities are prominent with >85% of rural US counties designated MH Health Professional Shortage Areas2 and rates of mortality by suicide among rural children almost double that of urban children.3 Hospital-based stabilization can ensure the safety of children in MH crisis. To characterize geographic differences and identify disparities for pediatric MH hospitalizations, we compared the rate of MH hospitalizations in children by location of their home residence.

We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of the 2019 Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) including all-payer encounters for hospitalizations (inpatient and observation) in 2019 for children 5-to-17 years with a primary MH diagnosis, categorized using the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Disorders Classification System....

Language: en