Health Communication Research Lab, Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Division of General Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, MO, USA.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2022 Oct 14;17:e279. doi: 10.1017/dmp.2022.208.
Most emergency preparedness planning seeks to identify vulnerable population subgroups; however, focusing on chronic conditions alone may ignore other important characteristics such as location and poverty. Social needs were examined as correlates of anticipated needs and desire for assistance during an emergency.
A retrospective, secondary analysis was conducted using assessments of 8280 adult Medicaid beneficiaries in Louisiana, linked with medical ( = 7936) and pharmacy claims ( = 7473).
The sample was 73% female; 47% Black; 34% White; mean age 41 y. Many had at least 1 chronic condition (75.9%), prescription (90.3%), and social need (45.2%). Across assessments, many reported food (40%), housing (34%), and transportation (33%) needs. However, far more people anticipated social needs during an emergency than in the next month. Having social needs increased the odds of anticipating any need (odds ratio [OR] = 1.5, 1.44-1.56) and desire for assistance during an emergency, even after controlling for significant covariates including older age, race, geographic region, Medicaid plan type, and prescriptions. Chronic conditions were significantly correlated with all anticipated needs in bivariate analyses, but only modestly associated (OR = 1.03, 1.01-1.06) with anticipated medication needs in multivariable analyses.
Identifying individuals with social needs, independent of their chronic disease status, will benefit emergency preparedness outreach efforts.
大多数应急准备规划旨在确定弱势群体亚组；然而，仅关注慢性病可能会忽略其他重要特征，如位置和贫困。本研究调查了社会需求与紧急情况下的预期需求和援助意愿之间的相关性。
使用路易斯安那州 8280 名成年医疗补助受益人的评估数据进行回顾性二次分析，这些数据与医疗（=7936）和药房索赔（=7473）相关联。
该样本中女性占 73%；47%为黑人；34%为白人；平均年龄为 41 岁。许多人至少患有 1 种慢性病（75.9%）、处方药（90.3%）和社会需求（45.2%）。在所有评估中，许多人报告了食品（40%）、住房（34%）和交通（33%）需求。然而，在紧急情况下，有更多的人预计会出现社会需求，而不是在接下来的一个月。有社会需求会增加预期任何需求的几率（优势比[OR] =1.5，1.44-1.56）和在紧急情况下寻求援助的意愿，即使在控制了包括年龄较大、种族、地理位置、医疗补助计划类型和处方在内的重要协变量后也是如此。在单变量分析中，慢性病与所有预期需求均显著相关，但在多变量分析中，仅与预期药物需求中度相关（OR=1.03，1.01-1.06）。
确定有社会需求的个体，而不论其慢性病状况如何，将有益于应急准备外展工作。
