Tess Loch, Jason Elzinga, Zoe Polsky, Eddy Lang, Catherine Patocka
Realist inquiry: a new way to think about overcrowding interventions
CJEM
inequities pediatric illness include unequal treatment outcomes children historically marginalized racesethnicities length stay los used assess health care quality associated higher costscomplications studies show los disparities black hispanic children specific diagnoses unclear broadly exist change time examined association raceethnicity los longitudinally common pediatric inpatient diagnoses used 2016 2019 kids inpatient databases 10 frequent diagnoses 2016 determined diagnosis year assessed association race los fitting generalized linear mixed effects model negative binomial distribution accounting clustering confounding using descriptive statistics compared associations 2 years trends time analysis included 450 000 admissions revealed significantly longer los black hispanic andor asian american pacific islander native american children 8 10 diagnoses 2016 mixed changes time three new disparities emerged 2019 largest disparities black children diagnoses kids inpatient database data showed longer los children historically marginalized raceethnicity common pediatric inpatient diagnoses largely persisted 2016 2019 plausible biological explanation findings inequities social needs access care quality care likely contribute future directions include study understand address contributing factors