Title
Infants Exposed To Homelessness: Health, Health Care Use, And Health Spending From Birth To Age Six
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health; Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences; Commonwealth Medicine, Center for Health Law and Policy
Publication Date
2019-05-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Health Economics | Health Law and Policy | Health Policy | Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Maternal and Child Health | Preventive Medicine
Abstract
Homeless infants are known to have poor birth outcomes, but the longitudinal impact of homelessness on health, health care use, and health spending during the early years of life has received little attention. Linking Massachusetts emergency shelter enrollment records for the period 2008-15 with Medicaid claims, we compared 5,762 infants who experienced a homeless episode with a group of 5,553 infants matched on sex, race/ethnicity, location, and birth month. Infants born during a period of unstable housing resulting in homelessness had higher rates of low birthweight, respiratory problems, fever, and other common conditions; longer neonatal intensive care unit stays; more emergency department visits; and higher annual spending. Differences in most health conditions persisted for two to three years. Asthma diagnoses, emergency department visits, and spending were significantly higher through age six. While screening and access to health care can be improved for homeless infants, long-term solutions require a broader focus on housing and income.
Keywords
homelessness, poverty, maternal and child health, social determinants of health
Rights and Permissions
Copyright Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc. This open access article is distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license.
DOI of Published Version
10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00090
Source
Health Aff (Millwood). 2019 May;38(5):721-728. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00090. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Health affairs (Project Hope)
Related Resources
PubMed ID
31059358
Repository Citation
Clark, Robin E.; Weinreb, Linda; Flahive, Julie M.; and Seifert, Robert W., "Infants Exposed To Homelessness: Health, Health Care Use, And Health Spending From Birth To Age Six" (2019). Commonwealth Medicine Publications. 231.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/commed_pubs/231
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Health Economics Commons, Health Law and Policy Commons, Health Policy Commons, Health Services Administration Commons, Health Services Research Commons, Maternal and Child Health Commons, Preventive Medicine Commons