Uninsured, Poor Teens Less Likely to Receive Preventive Medical or Dental Care, Study Says

Adolescents who lack health insurance, whose parents have low education levels and who have a low family income are less likely to receive regular preventive medical and dental care, according to a study conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA release, 11/30). The study, published in this month's issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, analyzed data from 5,644 adolescents ages 11 to 21 from the 1994-96 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Yu et al., "Factors Associated with Use of Preventive Dental and Health Services Among U.S. Adolescents," Journal of Adolescent Health, December 2001). According to the study, nearly 33% of adolescents had not had a physical or dental checkup within the previous year, and almost 12% reported having no health insurance. Those teens who lacked insurance were almost twice as likely as their insured counterparts to not have had a medical exam in the previous year. In addition, African-American and Hispanic adolescents were more likely to lack dental care than whites, while adolescents born outside of the United States were more likely than U.S.-born adolescents to never have received a dental exam (HRSA release, 11/30). The study is available online.