Social Determinants of Health in Pediatric Ophthalmology Patients: Availability of Data in the Electronic Health Record and Association With Clinic Attendance

PURPOSE: To characterize the availability of social determinants of health data in the electronic health record of pediatric ophthalmology patients and to examine the association of social determinants of health with attendance at scheduled operating room and clinic visits. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of pediatric ophthalmology patients seen at The Hospital for Sick Children between June 1, 2018, and May 23, 2022. Data were collected on demographics, diagnosis, and management-plan. The χ(2) tests and multivariable regression were used to examine associations between social determinants of health and attendance at scheduled operating room and clinic visits. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 26,102 study subjects with 31,288 unique eye-related diagnoses representing 57 unique ICD-10 codes. Availability of data in the electronic health record ranged from 100% for sex, age and postal code to 0.1% for ethnic group. Female sex (P = 0.004) and urbanicity (P = 0.05) were associated with higher operating room visit cancellations. Female sex (P = 0.002), age group 0–13 (P ≤ 0.001), low-medium neighborhood income quintile (P ≤ 0.001), residence of Northern Ontario (P ≤ 0.001), and urbanicity (P ≤ 0.001) were associated with higher clinic visit cancellations and no-shows. CONCLUSIONS: At a major tertiary-care hospital in Canada, key social determinant data such as ethnicity are not consistently available in the electronic health record of pediatric ophthalmology patients. Female sex, younger age, and living in a rural area or neighborhood with low-medium income quintile may be predictors of missed visits and require further study. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: This study highlights a need for improved documentation of social determinants of health variables in electronic health records.