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Emergency Department Visits in Sickle Cell Disease

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Publish date:: February 10, 2016

Early interventions addressing disparities in academic performance, especially for those children with sickle cell disease (SCD) most at risk, may lead to improved long-term health outcomes in this population. This according to a study of 258 adults with SCD aged 19 to 70 years. Researchers found:

Patients without a high school education visited the emergency department (ED) 3 times as often as patients with postsecondary education.

Controlling for poverty and employment status decreased the effect of education on ED visits by 33.24%.

Further controlling for disease severity and/or psychosocial functioning could not account for the remaining association between education and ED visits, suggesting that education is independently associated with potentially avoidable emergency care.

Citation: Jonassaint CR, Beach MC, Haythornwaite JA, et al. The association between educational attainment and patterns of emergency department utilization among adults with sickle cell disease. [Published online ahead of print January 27, 2016]. Int J Behav Med. doi: 10.1007/s12529-016-9538-y.

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