Preventive medical care (also known as “well-child care”) is a critical opportunity to detect a developmental delay or disability, so that early treatment can reduce its impact on both the child and family. Well-child visits also allow medical providers to promote behaviors conducive to healthy development, and to share advice with the parents of infants and toddlers. For example, physician guidance increases the likelihood that parents will read to their child, or that a child will be breastfed.
The denominator is children ages 0-2. The numerator is children ages 0-2 who had one or more preventive medical visits in the past 12 months. Estimates in the State of Babies Yearbook: 2023 are based on the 2019-2020 combined National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). Item language changed in the 2019 NSCH, restricting comparability to previous years.
This indicator can be disaggregated by household income. NSCH derives household income-to-poverty ratios based on family income and household size. Missing values were imputed by the Census Bureau, and the single imputation version provided in the 2019-2020 data files is used. Households with incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty line are classified as low-income. Households with incomes at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty line are considered not low-income. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2002). Developmental surveillance and screening of infants and young children. Pediatrics, 109(1), 144-145. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.109.1.144
Young, K. T., Davis, K., Schoen, C., & Parker, S. (1998). Listening to parents: A national survey of parents with young children. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 152(3), 255-262. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.152.3.255
Source:
Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. (2020). 2019 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) Stata Constructed Data Set. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health supported by Cooperative Agreement U59MC27866 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). www.childhealthdata.org
Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative. (2021). 2020 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) Stata Constructed Data Set. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health supported by Cooperative Agreement U59MC27866 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). www.childhealthdata.org/