Children With Chronic Health Conditions and Social Needs: Investigating Outcomes to Drive Health System Improvements

Children with chronic health conditions (CHCs) are a high-resource population, and further data are needed to identify associations between CHC diagnoses and social needs to optimize health outcomes. In this cross-sectional study of 19 779 pediatric patients screened for social needs in an urban health system, we used logistic regression to evaluate CHC diagnoses and social need. Our independent variables were CHC diagnoses. Our dependent variable was the presence of social need. In the study, 2247 of 11 071 (20%) children with CHCs identified need. Children with CHCs were more likely to have a social need than children without CHCs (adjusted odds ratio: 1.56; 95% confidence interval: 1.44-1.68). Children with autism/developmental delay were most likely to have a social need. Children with autism/developmental delay, anxiety/depression, and asthma were most likely to report specific social needs. Health systems should screen for these families’ needs to improve health outcomes.