Abstract
INTRODUCTION: To examine caregiver's perception of their child falling behind on developmental milestones after canceled or delayed appointments in metropolitan Chicago during stay-at-home orders, from March 21-May 7, 2020. METHODS: We fielded a web-based caregiver survey to understand the impact of the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's health care experiences characterizing proportions of caregiver perceptions of children falling behind in developmental milestones by canceled or delayed appointment types. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the likelihood of falling behind in milestones . RESULTS: Overall, 229 (7.5%) caregivers reported children with canceled or delayed appointments falling behind in developmental milestones. Approximately 25.4% of caregivers reported children falling behind on milestones in the Missed Therapeutic group, compared with the Other Missed group (2.9%) (p<0.001). children in the missed therapeutic group (adjusted odds ratio (aor) 10.3, 95% confidence interval (ci) 7.60-14.0)) and caregivers who experienced job loss (aor 1.59, ci 1.11-2.28) or reduced hours or pay (aor 1.90, ci 1.28-2.82) had higher odds of falling behind on developmental milestones. conclusions: implementation of new strategies to address the social needs of families should be develop when disruptions in developmental or therapeutic services among children occurs, particularly among children living in households with job insecurity.>
