Physician Visits and Prescribed Drugs among Young Children and their Mothers

Abstract

The extent to which use of medical services by young children could be predicted by mothers’ use of medical services and by certain family characteristics has been studied. The study population comprised 591 children two to four years of age in a Swedish rural municipality. Register data on physician visits and prescription drug purchases during 1979 constituted main sources of information. Statistically significant positive associations were found between number of physician visits made by the children and by their mothers and between number of prescription drug purchases made for the children and for the mothers. More physician visits and prescription drug purchases were made for the children of younger mothers than for those of older mothers. Six to eight per cent of the variation in the use of medical services by the young children was explained in multiple regression models including mainly mothers’ use of medical care, mothers’ age and children's age.

Key Words:

• health care utilization
• physician visits
• drug utilization
• preschool children
• family characteristics