Reduced visits to pediatric eye care among socioeconomically disadvantaged patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

We hypothesized that children with low socioeconomic status (SES) had disproportionately fewer eye care visits during the early COVID-19 pandemic and that these children would be less likely to use synchronous provider-to-patient telemedicine eye care visits. This study investigated changes in patient demographics at a large, academic pediatric eye center before and after the pandemic. A retrospective review of all visits from March 18, 2019, to May 31, 2019 (pre-COVID period) and of the same date range in 2020 (COVID period) was performed. Patient addresses were used to calculate the Area Deprivation Index (ADI), a validated measure of a neighborhood’s SES. Patients who identified as non-White, and those requiring an interpreter had relatively fewer visits during the COVID period compared to the pre-COVID period. In addition, relatively fewer telemedicine visits were performed with patients who lived in a neighborhood classified as at or above the 50th ADI percentile (more disadvantaged).