Objective:

To characterize healthcare utilization, physical and mental health, and food security among pediatric patients with epilepsy (PWE) in comparison to children in the general population. 

Background:

Both adult and pediatric PWE often have multiple co-morbidities, including physical and mental health disorders, leading to increased healthcare utilization and worse health outcomes. Data is available for adult PWE struggling with social determinants of health, such as food security, but is limited for pediatric PWE.

Design/Methods:

Selected National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Questionnaire (NHANES) database questionnaire results from 2013-2018 were compared between PWE under age eighteen (participants taking antiseizure medications for epilepsy) and children without epilepsy, matched for age and gender, using Pearson Chi-Squared Tests.

Results:

44 PWE and 2640 matched controls had a median age of ten, 65.9% male. PWE were more likely to seek medical attention with overnight hospital stays (31.8% vs 2.8%) or ≥10 appointments in the last year (39% vs 4.2%) (p<0.001). PWE have more difficulties with hearing (13.6% vs 0.8%), seeing (13.6% vs 2.2%), and walking (37.8% vs 1.0%) (p<0.001). Regarding mental health, PWE were less likely to perceive their health as “Excellent” (11.4% vs 40.1%) but more likely “Fair” (22.7% vs 5.8%) or “Poor” (11.4% vs 0.3%) (p<0.001). More PWE reported seeing a mental health professional in the last year (26.3% vs 10.0%, p=0.012). There was no significant difference in reported household food security (p=0.51) or food stamps (p=0.91). More PWE received reduced lunch prices (25.9% vs 8.7%, p<0.001) despite there being no significant difference between the proportion of children eating school lunch daily (p=0.636).

Conclusions:

Data from NHANES further support that pediatric PWE are more likely to have co-morbid physical and mental disabilities, increasing healthcare utilization. Although pediatric PWE are more likely to get reduced lunch prices, overall, there is no significant difference in food security in this dataset.