Unmet health care needs in children with cerebral palsy: A cross-sectional study

Children with potentially severe health conditions such as cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk for unmet health care needs. We sought to determine whether children with CP had significantly greater unmet health care needs than children with other special health care needs (SHCN), and whether conditions associated with CP increased the odds of unmet health care needs. We analyzed data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, 2005–2006, using multivariate logistic regression to calculate the adjusted odds of children with CP having one or more unmet health care needs compared to children with other SHCN. We also determined the association of CP-related conditions with unmet health care needs in children with CP. After weighting to national averages, our sample represented 178,536 children with CP (1.9%), and 9,236,794 with children with other SHCN (98.1%). Although having CP increased the odds that children had unmet health care needs (OR = 1.46, 95% CI [1.07–1.99]), the presence of a “severe” health condition weakened the association. Gastrointestinal problems and emotional problems increased the odds that children with CP would have unmet health care needs above that of children without the associated conditions (p ≤ .01). Children with CP are similar to children with other SHCN and may benefit from collaborative programs targeting severe chronic conditions. However, children with CP and associated conditions have increased odds of unmet health care needs in comparison to children without those problems.

► Like children with other SHCN, children with CP often have unmet health care needs.
► We compare unmet health care needs among children with CP and those with other SHCN.
► Gastrointestinal and emotional problems increase the odds of unmet health care needs in children with CP.