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Factors associated with non‐attendance at pediatric allergy clinics
Author(s) -
Dreiher Jacob,
Goldbart Aviv,
Hershkovich Jacob,
Vardy Daniel A.,
Cohen Ar D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatric allergy and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.269
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1399-3038
pISSN - 0905-6157
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-3038.2007.00691.x
Subject(s) - medicine , attendance , logistic regression , ethnic group , demography , multivariate analysis , pediatrics , family medicine , sociology , anthropology , economics , economic growth
Non‐attendance for scheduled appointments is common in many medical specialties. However, there are no published reports on non‐attendance in pediatric allergy clinics. We investigated the factors for non‐attendance in pediatric allergy patients. We assessed the effects of age, gender, ethnic origin, waiting time for an appointment and the timing of the appointment on non‐attendance proportions. Chi‐square tests were used to analyze statistically significant differences of categorical variables. Logistic regression models were used for multivariate analyses. A total of 442 visits in a 21‐month period were included in the study. The overall proportion of non‐attendance at the pediatric allergy clinic was 33.0%. Jewish rural patients had 19.4% non‐attendance; Jewish urban patients had 35.6% non‐attendance; and Bedouin patients had 57.1% non‐attendance (p < 0.001). Non‐attendance was higher in spring and winter (43.5% and 36.7%, respectively) than in summer and autumn (26.9% and 26.5%, respectively) (p = 0.016). Non‐attendance was not significantly influenced by gender, age, hour of the appointment or waiting time for the appointment. A multivariate logistic regression model demonstrated that the ethnic origin of the patients and the season of the year were significantly associated with non‐attendance. We conclude that in children attending allergy clinics, factors that determine non‐attendance include the ethnic origin of the patients and the season of the year.