Race, Income Affect Care for Ear Infections: Study

Black and Hispanic children with frequent ear infections are less likely to have access to health care than white children, say U.S. researchers.

They analyzed 1997 to 2006 data from the National Health Interview Survey and found that each year about 4.6 million children have frequent ear infections, defined as more than three infections over 12 months.

Overall, 3.7 percent of children with frequent ear infections could not afford care, 5.6 percent could not afford prescriptions, and only 25.8 percent saw a specialist, said the researchers at Harvard Medical School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.  Read more...