Sociodemographic differences in treatment of acute respiratory infections in pediatric urgent cares.

Objective: To determine whether differences exist in antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections in pediatric urgent cares (PUCs) by patient race/ethnicity, insurance, and language.

Design: Multi-center cohort study.

Setting: Nine organizations (92 locations) from 22 states and Washington, DC.

Participants: Patients ages 6 months-18 years evaluated April 2022-April 2023, with acute viral respiratory infections, otitis media with effusion (OME), acute otitis media (AOM), pharyngitis, community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), and sinusitis.

Methods: We compared the use of first-line (FL) therapy as defined by published guidelines. We used race/ethnicity, insurance, and language as exposures. Multivariable logistic regression models estimated the odds of FL therapy by group.

Results: We evaluated 396,340 ARI encounters. Among all encounters, 351,930 (88.8%) received FL therapy (98% for viral respiratory infections, 85.4% for AOM, 96.0% for streptococcal pharyngitis, 83.6% for sinusitis). OME and CAP had the lowest rates of FL therapy (49.9% and 60.7%, respectively). Adjusted odds of receiving FL therapy were higher in Black Non-Hispanic (NH) (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.53 [1.47, 1.59]), Asian NH (aOR 1.46 [1.40, 1.53], and Hispanic children (aOR 1.37 [1.33, 1.41]), compared to White NH. Additionally, odds of receiving FL therapy were higher in children with Medicaid/Medicare (aOR 1.21 [1.18-1.24]) and self-pay (aOR 1.18 [1.1-1.27]) compared to those with commercial insurance.

Conclusions: This multicenter collaborative showed lower rates of FL therapy for children of the White NH race and those with commercial insurance compared to other groups. Exploring these differences through a health equity lens is important for developing mitigating strategies.