Consistent empirical evidence has shown that low-income Latino populations tend to underutilize health care services and do not have a usual source of care. This article identifies and describes the sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics of Latino immigrant mothers who use emergency pediatric services, assesses the association of maternal characteristics with perceived barriers to care, and examines key predictors of total number of pediatric visits in a year. A survey was carried out to obtain data on reason for emergency room visit, usual sources of care, child's health, and mother's physical and psychosocial health. The results revealed a clear pattern of delayed care for acute problems in the children, a high number of reported barriers to pediatric care, and high mental distress reported by mothers.
We compared the maternal and birth characteristics of 87 first-year dropouts with 103 active participants of a pediatric clinic which provides long-term follow-up care to offspring exposed in utero to substance abuse mothers. The age, ethnicity, and marital status of the mother; the type of drug used during pregnancy; and the length, gender, number, and type of addiction problems of the newborn were not significantly different between the two groups. However, the dropouts differed significantly from the active participants in many other aspects. More dropout mothers received no prenatal care and did not have children at home at the time of the present birth. More of them were smokers; had gonorrhea, heart, and kidney problems; and had infections complicating their pregnancy. The dropout newborns were found to have lower birthweight and shorter gestation. These clinical parameters defined a suboptimal group of mothers and children requiring more attention and care. The findings also alert investigators of long-term follow-up studies to be aware of basic differences between nonparticipants and participants.
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