Objective:

Background:

Neurological disorders often cause hospitalizations among children. Timely follow-up care ensures treatment plan adherence, symptom progression monitoring, and attention to emergent issues.

Design/Methods:

We identified patients at one center between 2019-2022 that had seen a child neurologist and had an inpatient admission with a neurologic diagnosis. We defined “timely outpatient follow-up” as 90 days after discharge. Sub-analysis was performed for patients with an epilepsy or recurrent seizures diagnosis.

Results:

The cohort included 2,404 patients. 990 (41.2%) had a timely outpatient follow-up visit with a child neurologist. In our sub-analysis for children with epilepsy, 667 (51.8%) had a timely outpatient follow-up visit. Compared to children 0-3 years old,  older age groups with epilepsy were less likely to receive timely outpatient care: 12-17 (Odds Ratio [OR] 0.634, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.450 – 0.892), 18-24 (OR 0.302, 95% CI 0.195 – 0.463), and 25 and above (OR 0.017, 95% CI 0.003 – 0.057). Black, Non-Hispanic (OR 0.693, 95% CI 0.484 – 0.992), Hispanic (OR 0.744 95% CI 0.557 – 0.993), Other (OR 0.510, 95% CI 0.321 – 0.807), and Asian (OR 0.469, 95% CI 0.286 – 0.765) children with epilepsy were less likely to receive timely follow up outpatient visits post discharge with a child neurologist compared to White, Non-Hispanic children.

Conclusions:

The rate of timely outpatient child neurology follow-up visits after an inpatient admission with a neurologic diagnosis ranged between 40%-55%, while racial and ethnic minorities admitted with an epilepsy or recurrent seizures diagnosis had lower follow-up rates in comparison to White, Non-Hispanic patients, indicating racial disparities in post-discharge epilepsy and seizure care.