Health care utilization in young adults with childhood physical disabilities: a nationally representative prospective cohort study

Table 1 Demographic and health characteristics of US adolescents by disability status

	No Physical Disability^a	Physical disability^a	p
	n = 12,825	n = 611	p
Demographic characteristics
Age, mean (SE)^b	21.8 (0.12)	22.0 (0.14)	0.12
Sex (%)			0.24
Female	49.6	53.0
Male	50.4	47.0
Race^c (%)
White	77.3	82.4	0.04
Black/African American	16.9	13.8	0.13
Asian/Pacific Islander	4.8	3.5	0.30
Native American	4.8	6.1	0.26
Hispanic (%)	11.0	8.2	0.08
Household income, mean (SE)^{b, d}	46.2 (1.4)	45.0 (2.4)	0.62
Parent highest education (%)			0.51
High school or less	33.8	35.8
More than high school	66.2	64.2
Health characteristics
Depression diagnosis (%)	11.6	16.1	0.02
Asthma (%)	16.7	21.2	0.03
Diabetes (%)	0.9	2.5	0.003
Seizure disorder (%)	1.5	1.5	0.99
Health care characteristics
Health insurance ≥ 1 month past year (%)	81.6	80.3	0.65
Health care utilization
Physical past year (%)	34.8	39.5	0.14
Unmet health care needs past year (%)	22.1	29.8	0.002
Hospitalization past 5 years (%)	26.0	33.9	0.002
≥ 2 ED visits past 5 years (%)^e	34.3	43.1	0.002
Mental health admission past 5 years (%)	1.9	1.7	0.69

All means and percentages are calculated with weighted data to reflect the representative proportion of the target US population
^aPhysical disability defined at baseline as: 1) difficulty using limbs; 2) using assistive devices such as a walker or wheelchair; or 3) using a brace or artificial limb
^bSE = standard error
^cParticipants can select more than one race; percentages may not add to 100%
^dIncome measured in thousands of dollars
^eED = emergency department

ISSN: 1471-2431