Geographic Health Disparities in the Los Angeles Pediatric Neck Abscess Population

Publication date: Available online 26 July 2018

Source: International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

Author(s): Varun Angajala, Kevin Hur, Lia Jacobson, Christian Hochstim

Abstract

Objective

To assess geographical sociodemographic differences in neck abscesses that require surgical drainage in Los Angeles.

Study Design: retrospective review

Methods

We reviewed the medical records of 119 consecutive pediatric patients at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) from 2014-2017 with a diagnosis of a neck abscess requiring incision and drainage. Sociodemographic information including zip code of residence was extracted and analyzed with Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and multivariate logistic regression.

Results

The average age of patients with a neck abscess in this study was 3.4 years old, 53.8% were female, 54.6% were Hispanic, and 82.5% had public health insurance. 79% of patients had an abscess located in the superficial neck, and 10.1% had an abscess located in the retropharyngeal space. There were no significant differences in gender, race, type of health insurance, or income between patients that lived within 10 miles of CHLA versus those that lived farther than 10 miles. On multivariate analysis, zip codes with a high volume of neck abscesses were more likely to be lower income neighborhoods. Gender, race, type of health insurance, and distance from CHLA were not associated with zip codes with a high volume of neck abscesses.

Conclusion

Geographic areas in the greater Los Angeles community with a high volume of neck abscesses requiring incision and drainage at our institution were associated with lower income neighborhoods.

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