Table 2.
Comparing Characteristics of Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN), Age 5-17 Years, by Shared Decision Making Pattern1
| Variable | Included | Excluded | Pvalue comparing Included vs. excluded2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of children in sample |
2454 |
174 |
|
| Number of children represented in population |
10.2 million |
641,000 |
|
| Percent represented |
94% |
6% |
|
|
Demographic Characteristics |
% |
% |
|
| Age (Years) | |||
| 5-12 |
70.0 |
64.1 |
0.2 |
| 13-17 |
30.0 |
35.9 |
|
| Female |
44.0 |
44.3 |
0.9 |
| Race | |||
| White |
78.4 |
69.6 |
0.009 |
| Black |
16.1 |
18.5 |
|
| Other |
5.5 |
11.9 |
|
| Hispanic |
12.5 |
16.9 |
0.1 |
| Region | |||
| Northeast |
19.1 |
8.1 |
0.02 |
| Midwest |
22.8 |
22.7 |
|
| South |
37.8 |
49.2 |
|
| West |
20.3 |
20.0 |
|
| Parental Education | |||
| No Degree |
10.3 |
17.8 |
0.1 |
| High School Complete |
46.4 |
48.2 |
|
| Bachelor's Degree |
16.7 |
12.8 |
|
| Graduate Level Degree |
11.9 |
11.6 |
|
| Other Degree |
14.7 |
9.6 |
|
| Poverty | |||
| Poor |
18.4 |
22.2 |
0.007 |
| Near Poor |
5.9 |
8.9 |
|
| Low Income |
15.0 |
24.9 |
|
| Middle Income |
31.5 |
27.5 |
|
| High Income |
29.2 |
16.5 |
|
| Insurance Coverage | |||
| Any private |
65.4 |
52.9 |
0.01 |
| Other |
34.6 |
47.1 |
|
|
Clinical Characteristics |
% |
% |
|
| General Health Status3 | |||
| Increasing |
20.4 |
20.1 |
0.9 |
| Unchanged |
59.8 |
60.4 |
|
| Decreasing |
19.8 |
19.5 |
|
| Diagnosed with ADHD |
19.8 |
8.3 |
0.001 |
|
Variable |
Included |
Excluded |
Pvalue comparing Included vs. excluded2 |
| Diagnosed with Asthma |
20.1 |
19.3 |
0.8 |
| Any psychotropic medication use4 | |||
| None |
70.7 |
85.6 |
0.01 |
| Year 1 only |
2.9 |
2.8 |
|
| Year 2 only |
6.1 |
3.9 |
|
| Both years |
20.3 |
6.7 |
|
| Any mental health services use5 | |||
| None |
76.5 |
68.8 |
<0.001 |
| Year 1 only |
6.1 |
20.1 |
|
| Year 2 only |
6.8 |
5.8 |
|
| Both years | 10.6 | 5.3 | |
1Children excluded from the study lacked a usual source of care, had no response to any of the items used to create the SDM measure, or lacked a response to items from the Columbia Impairment Scale used to assess behavioral impairment.
2P values calculated by chi-square tests with robust variance estimates accounting for the weighted, clustered, and stratified longitudinal MEPS survey design.
3General Health Status determined using the overall score from 5 Likert-scaled items (recoded so that a score of 5 indicates the best health and a score of 1 the worst health) derived from the Child Health Questionnaire, General Health Subscale (child seems less healthy than other children, child has never been seriously ill, child usually catches whatever is going around, expect child will have a healthy life, respondent worries more than is usual about child’s health). For each year, the overall score was categorized as (low (<15), medium (15 to <20), or high (≥20)).
4 Psychotropic medications considered included stimulants, antidepressants, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, as well as other psychotropic medications such as alpha agonists.
5 Mental health services include visits to a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health professional.