Children's Health

Access to Care and Utilization Among Children—Estimating the Effects of Public and Private Coverage. T. Selden, J. Hudson, Medical Care 44(5): May 2006, I-19-I-26. Examines the relationship between health insurance coverage and children's access to and utilization of medical care. Also examines indicators for ambulatory visits, well-child visits, dental visits, emergency room use, and inpatient hospital stays. (AHRQ 06-R039)

Advancing the Current Recommended Panel of Conditions for Newborn Screening: Committee Report. N. Green, P. Rinaldo, A. Brower, et al., Genetics in Medicine 9(11): November 2007, 792-796. Describes a new process for the nomination and review of conditions to the recommended universal newborn screening panel and calls for nominations. (AHRQ 08-R030)

Burden of Illness for Children and Where We Stand in Measuring the Quality of this Health Care. M. Miller, P. Gergen, M. Honour, et al., Ambulatory Pediatrics 5(5): September-October 2005, 268-278. Lists high-priority conditions for children based on different vantage points for defining burden relative to both inpatient and outpatient care for children. (AHRQ 06-R004)

Childhood Obesity: Is There Effective Treatment? J. Greaser, J. Whyte, Consultant September 2004, 1349-1353. Discusses how to calculate body mass index in children and identify those who require further evaluation. Also outlines practical steps to help prevent and treat childhood obesity. (AHRQ 05-R011)

Children's Health Care in the First National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report. D. Dougherty, S. Meikle, P. Owens, et al., Medical Care Supplement, 43(3): March 2005, 58-63. Highlights why a focus on children is appropriate for the first National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports, presents selected highlights of findings on children's health care quality and disparities from the reports, and stimulates improvements in measurement and reporting on children's health care that can enhance future reports. (AHRQ 05-R053)

Compliance with Well-Child Visit Recommendations: Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2000-2002. T. Selden, Pediatrics 118(6): December 2006, e1766-1778. Examines national compliance rates with recommendations for well-child visits using visit-level data for the period 2000-2002 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. (AHRQ 07-R019)

The Correlation of Youth Physical Activity with State Policies. J. Cawley, C. Meyerhoefer, D. Newhouse, Contemporary Economic Policy 25(4): October 2007, 506-517. Estimates the correlation of student physical activity with a variety of State policies and the role of State policies in preventing childhood obesity through physical education and availability of parks and recreation. (AHRQ 08-R025)

Diarrhea- and Rotavirus-Associated Hospitalizations Among Children Less Than 5 Years of Age: United States, 1997 and 2000. M. Malek, A. Curns, R. Holman, et al., Pediatrics 117(6): June 2006, 1887-1892. Estimates the number and rate of diarrhea- and rotavirus-associated hospitalizations among U.S. children less than 5 years of age in 1997 and 2000 using the Kids' Inpatient Database, a sample of 10 percent of the uncomplicated births and 80 percent of other pediatric discharges. (AHRQ 07-R004)

Does SCHIP Benefit All Low-Income Children? K. VanLandeghem, C. Brach. CHIRI Issue Brief, No. 4, December 2004, 6 pp. Discusses how the State Children's Health Insurance Program affects access to and satisfaction with care for new enrollees, including vulnerable children and adolescents with special health care needs. (AHRQ 05-0010)

Health Care for Children and Youth in the United States: Annual Report on Patterns of Coverage, Utilization, Quality, and Expenditures by a County Level of Urban Influence. F. Chevarley, P. Owens, M. Zodet, et al., Ambulatory Pediatrics 6(5): September-October 2006, 241-264. Examines child and hospital demographics and children's health care coverage, use, expenditures, and quality by a county-level measure of urban influence. (AHRQ 06-R079)

Health Care for Children and Youth in the United States: Annual Report on Patterns of Coverage, Utilization, Quality, and Expenditures by Income. L. Simpson, P. Owens, M. Zodet, et al., Ambulatory Pediatrics 5(1): 2005, 6-44. Examines differences by income in health care for children in the United States by examining data from the 2000-2002 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the 2001 Nationwide Inpatient Sample from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. (AHRQ 05-R048)

How Much Can Really Be Saved by Rolling Back SCHIP? The Net Cost of Public Health Insurance for Children. T. Selden, J. Hudson, Inquiry 42: Spring 2005, 16-28. Uses data from the 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to simulate the net cost of SCHIP, finding that the true cost of this program is substantially less than average spending per enrollee would suggest, and thereby exaggerating the saving that might be achieved from SCHIP rollbacks. (AHRQ 05-R063)

The Impact of SCHIP on Insurance Coverage of Children. J. Hudson, T. Selden, J. Banthin, Inquiry 42: Fall 2005, 232-254. Uses data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey between 1996 and 2002 to investigate the impact of the State Children's Health Insurance Program on insurance coverage for children. Explores a range of alternative estimation strategies, including instrumental variables and difference-in-trends models. (AHRQ 06-R018)

Kawasaki Syndrome in Hawaii. R. Holman, A. Curns, E. Belay, et al., The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 24(5): May 2005, 429-433. Examines hospital discharge data for Kawasaki syndrome patients to describe the incidence and epidemiology of Kawasaki syndrome in Hawaii, including the incidence among the various racial groups. (AHRQ 05-R073)

Management Tools for Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). W. Welch, B. Rudolph, L. Blewett, et al., Journal of Ambulatory Care Management 29(4): October-December 2006, 272-282. Describes the state of the art in analytic tools to manage Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. (AHRQ 06-R081)

Measuring Children's Health Care Quality. L. Simpson, D. Dougherty, D. Krause, et al., American Journal of Medical Quality 22(2): March/April 2007, 80-84. Examines the current status of activities to measure and improve child health care quality and to select priority areas for future work. Discusses the need for consensus development in children's health care quality, as well as increased public and private investment in activities to improve quality of care for children. (AHRQ 07-R051)

More on RotaShield and Intussusception: The Role of Age at the Time of Vaccination. L. Simonsen, C. Viboud, A. Elixhauser, et al., Journal of Infectious Diseases Supplement 1, 192:2005, S36-43. Uses Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project data to estimate how absolute risk varies with age and to model the projected population-attributable risk associated with three different vaccination schedules. (AHRQ 06-R002)

National Estimates of Antidepressant Medication Use Among U.S. Children, 1997-2002. B. Vitiello, S. Zuvekas, G. Norquist, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 45(3): March 2006, 217-219. Analyzes data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey between 1996 and 2002 to determine whether pediatric use of antidepressants continued to rise at a national level during the period 1997-2002. (AHRQ 06-R037)

Necrotising Enterocolitis Hospitalisations Among Neonates in the United States. R. Holman, B. Stoll, A. Curns, et al., Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 20:2006, 498-506. Estimates the rate and epidemiology of necrotising enterocolitis—the most common cause of gastrointestinal surgical emergencies among newborns—among infants younger than 1 month hospitalized in the United States. (AHRQ 07-R027)

Neonatal Circumcision: Cost-Effective Preventive Measure or "the Unkindest Cut of All?" D. Gray, Medical Decision Making 24(6): November/December 2004, 688-692. Discusses costs associated with routine neonatal circumcision (performed as a preventive rather than a therapeutic measure). (AHRQ 05-R029)

Not Your Father's PE: Obesity, Exercise, and the Role of Schools. J. Cawley, C. Meyerhoefer, D. Newhouse, Education Next 4: Fall 2006, 61-66. Examines physical education (PE) requirements in schools and the contribution of PE to weight loss and the risk of obesity, as well as what happens when States require students to spend more time in the school gym or on the athletic fields. (AHRQ 07-R020)

Prior Health Care Experiences of Adolescents Who Enroll in SCHIP. J. Klein, E. Shenkman, C. Brach, et al., Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 17(4): November 2006, 789-807. Presents the results of a survey of new adolescent enrollees in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in New York and Florida. Participants provided information about their health status, health care use, access, and unmet needs prior to SCHIP enrollment. (AHRQ 07-R032)

Recent Trends in Stimulant Medication Use Among U.S. Children. S. Zuvekas, B. Vitiello, G. Norquist, American Journal of Psychiatry 163(4): April 2006, 579-585. Compares trends in stimulant use among U.S. children during the periods 1987-1996 and 1997-2002. (AHRQ 06-R063)

Relevance of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Safety Indicators for Children's Hospitals. A. Sedman, J. Harris, K. Schulz, et al., Pediatrics 115(1): January 2005, 135-145. Applies AHRQ's Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) to a national children's hospital database to establish mean rates for each of the PSI events in children's hospitals, investigate the inadequacies of PSI in relation to pediatric diagnoses, and express the data in such a way that children's hospitals could use the PSIs for comparison with their own data. Attempts to use the data to set priorities for ongoing clinical investigations and to propose interventions. (AHRQ 05-R034)

Rural Areas and Children's Health Care Coverage, Use, Expenditures, and Quality: Policy Implications. D. Dougherty, L. Simpson, M. Mccormick, Ambulatory Pediatrics 6(5): September-October 2006, 265-267. Discusses the specific challenges rural children may face in receiving health care and suggests opportunities for policy development to promote improvements in the care of children in rural areas of this country. (AHRQ 06-R080)

SCHIP Enrollees with Special Health Care Needs and Access to Care. K. VanLandeghem, J. Boney, C. Brach, et al., CHIRI Issue Brief, No. 5, July 2006, 6 pp. Summarizes case studies of five States with a separate State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to determine whether children with special health care needs experienced problems in accessing health care services in SCHIP programs with limits and/or exclusions in coverage design. (AHRQ 06-0051)

Trends in Children's Antibiotic Use: 1996 to 2001. G. Miller, W. Carroll, MEPS Research Findings No. 23, March 2005, 22 pp. Uses nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to examine antibiotic use by U.S. children for the years 1996-2001. (AHRQ 05-0020)

Who Enrolls in Oregon's Premium Assistance Program and How Do They Fare? K. VanLandeghem, C. Brach, J. Bonney, et al., CHIRI™ Issue Brief, No. 6, February 2007, 6 pp. Compares characteristics and health care experiences of enrollees in two Oregon programs that provide health care for low-income children—the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the Family Health Insurance Assistance Program (FHIAP), Oregon's premium assistance program. (AHRQ 07-0022)

Combating Childhood Obesity

Max's Magical Delivery. September 2004. A DVD for kids and parents to help fight childhood obesity, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and FitTV and Discovery Communications. (AHRQ 04-0088-DVD)

Childhood Obesity: Combating the Epidemic. Accompanying DVD for clinicians to learn about the latest recommendations and receiving useful tools about combating childhood obesity. (AHRQ 04-0089-DVD)

AHRQ Publications Order Form

Return to Contents
Proceed to Next Section