Ahrens Katherine A, Hutcheon Jennifer A, Strumpf Erin C, Nandi Arijit, Ortiz Justin R, Janevic Teresa
Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine, Portland ME, United States.
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Am J Epidemiol. 2025 Jun 9. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwaf124.
To examine whether the effect of a paid family leave program on acute care encounters for respiratory tract infections (RTI) among young infants differed by subgroups.
We examined 52943 hospitalizations and emergency department visits between Oct 2015 and Feb 2020 among infants aged ≤8 weeks in New York, which introduced paid family leave in January 2018, and four New England control states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine). We conducted a controlled time series analysis that compared observed counts in New York during the putative respiratory virus season (Oct-Mar) in each population subgroup to those predicted in the absence of the policy.
Absolute reductions in RTI-related acute care encounters among young infants were greater for Hispanic as compared to non-Hispanic white infants (5.60 fewer cases per 1000 infants [95% CI: -8.74 to -2.51]) and for encounters paid for by Medicaid as compared to private payer (4.22 fewer cases per 1000 [95% CI: -6.45, -2.18]). Findings by Child Opportunity Index 2.0 quintiles showed no clear pattern.
Our findings suggest the program may have larger benefits for infants from less advantaged groups.
