Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that across nearly 50,000 visits, pediatric patients continued to use telemedicine even with the reopening of outpatient clinics a year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Sept. 16 study published in the journal of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology.
The study was based on a cohort of 34,837 in-person visits and 14,820 telemedicine outpatient visits between October 2019 and April 2021 across a total of 26,399 child neurology patients.
Three of the study's findings:
- Researchers found that telemedicine was utilized more often than in-person visits for patients with epilepsy and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
- Patients with certain neuromuscular and movement disorders, younger patients, and those needing specific procedures were less likely to receive care by telemedicine.
- Racial and ethnic minority populations were less likely to use telemedicine for visits.