Evan M. Chen|Joana E Andoh|Kristen Nwanyanwu
Socioeconomic and Demographic Disparities in the Use of Telemedicine for Ophthalmic Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Yale University|University of California, San Francisco|Yale University|Yale University
identify disparities use telemedicine coronavirus disease 2019 covid19 pandemica crosssectional study completed clinical encounters academic ophthalmology center march 2020 august 2020a total 5023 patients comprising 8116 ophthalmic clinical encountersmedical charts abstracted demographic information identified zip codelevel socioeconomic characteristics drawn 2019 american community survey 5year estimatesthe completion synchronous video encounter completion telephone audioonly encounter absence video encounters completion inperson encounters onlyduring study period 8116 total clinical encounters completed 5023 unique patients patients 446 89 participated video encounter 642 128 completed telephone encounter 3935 783 attended clinical appointments person adjusted analysis patients black odds ratio 065 95 confidence interval ci 052080 p 0001 hispaniclatino 065 95 ci 049085 p 0002 significantly less likely complete video telephone appointment older patients 099 95 ci 098099 p 0001 patients whose primary language english 049 95 ci 028082 p 001 black patients 045 95 ci 032062 p 0001 hispaniclatino patients 056 95 ci 037083 p 0005 significantly less likely complete video encounter finally among patients completing type telemedicine encounter older age 102 95 ci 101103 p 0001 medicare insurance 155 95 ci 111217 p 001 black race 197 95 ci 133294 p 0001 associated using phone visitsethnicracial minorities older patients nonenglishspeaking individuals significantly less likely complete video telehealth encounter expansion telemedicine need reduce disparate impact covid19 minorities increasingly important identify barriers telehealth use opportunities improve access