Purpose:
To identify pediatric patient and appointment characteristics associated with no-show status at a tertiary care pediatric ophthalmology clinic within a U.S. academic ophthalmology department.
Methods:
A cross-sectional retrospective chart review was performed for all pediatric patients with a scheduled ophthalmology appointment at the Penn State Eye Center between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023. A multivariate logistic regression analysis assessed associations between appointment nonattendance and patient characteristics.
Results:
Of 8,083 scheduled visits, 1,445 (17.9%) were no-shows. Factors associated with no-show status included appointment type (new vs return odds ratio [OR]: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.26 to 1.63,
P
< .001); lower median household income (< $41,374 vs > $68,957 OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.40 to 2.55,
P
< .001; $41,374 to $68,957 vs > $68,957 OR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.44,
P
< .001); non-private insurance (self-pay vs private: OR: 5.65, 95% CI: 3.87 to 8.24,
P
< .001, Medicaid vs private: OR: 2.17, 95% CI: 2.32 to 3.16,
P
< .001); commute distance 10 to 30 miles vs < 5 miles (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.11 to 1.99,
P
= .008); race: unavailable vs White (OR: 2.18, 95% CI: 1.66 to 2.85,
P
< .001), Black vs White (OR: 1.86, 95% CI:1.53 to 2.27,
P
< .001), Other vs White (OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.27 to 1.70,
P
< .001); ethnicity: Hispanic vs non-Hispanic (OR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.62 to 2.27,
P
< .001); and language preference: Spanish vs English (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.49 to 2.32,
P
< .001), Nepali vs English (OR: 1.60, 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.43,
P
= .027), other vs English (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.35 to 2.49,
P
< .001). Appointment reminders (phone call,
P
= .013); text message,
P
< .001; other,
P
= .013) all resulted in a greater propensity to show, but email communication alone did not (
P
= .674).
Conclusions:
Certain patient and appointment characteristics that are linked to a higher rate of no-show status can inform targeted initiatives to improve health care outcomes, resource utilization, and clinical efficiency in the pediatric ophthalmology community.
[
J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus
. 20XX;X(XX):XXX–XXX.]
