Trends in Use of Eye Care Services for Children

为了提高公众对眼部疾病和视力障碍的个人和社会负担和成本的认识，迫切需要有关眼部疾病患者数量和特征的数据以及有关其眼部保健资源使用的信息。由于儿童特别容易出现未被发现的问题，而且未被发现和已被发现的问题都可能随着时间的推移而恶化，可能严重影响他们的发展，因此有必要特别针对儿童审查这些特点。本项目的目的是对儿童获得、利用和支出眼科保健服务的趋势进行分析。我们还将估计被诊断患有眼部疾病的儿童人数，并量化眼部疾病的存在之间的关联。 眼睛状况和使用眼睛护理服务以及儿童、家庭和保险特征。该项目的具体目标是：（1）确定儿童人口的特点（<18岁）在美国，根据社会经济学（SES）、临床和保险因素诊断出眼部疾病（还将审查长期趋势）;（2）按儿童、家庭、年龄、性别、性别、年龄、性别、及儿童的保险范围（亦会研究随时间的趋势）;及（3）估计家庭健康特征（例如二手烟暴露及父母的眼疾史）与儿童的 眼睛状况和使用服务。我们将使用1996年至2000年医疗支出小组调查（MEPS）的数据，并补充1995年至1999年全国健康访谈调查（NHIS）的信息，以实现这些目标。

In order to increase public awareness of the individual and societal burdens and costs of eye conditions and visual impairment, data are urgently needed on the numbers and characteristics of people with eye conditions as well as information on their eye health care resource use. Since children are at particular risk for undetected problems and because both undetected and detected problems can become exacerbated over time, potentially seriously impacting on their development, there is a need to examine these characteristics especially for children. This purpose of this project is to present an analysis of the trends in access to, utilization of, and expenditures on eye care services for children. We will also estimate the number of children with diagnosed eye conditions and quantify the associations between the presence of eye conditions and use of eye care services and child, family, and insurance characteristics. The specific aims of this project are: (1) to characterize the population of children (<18 years old) in the United States who have diagnosed eye conditions with respect to socioeconomic (SES), clinical, and insurance factors (trends over time will also be examined); (2) to estimate utilization and expenditure patterns and sources of payment for eye care, including eyeglasses, and contact lenses by child, family, and insurance coverage for children (trends over time will also be examined); and (3) to estimate the relationship between family health characteristics, such as exposure to passive smoking and history of parental eye conditions and children's eye conditions and use of services. We will use data from the 1996 through the 2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys (MEPS), supplemented with information from the 1995 though the 1999 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS), to pursue these goals.