Children from poorer families are more likely to be hospitalized for conditions that could have been cared for in an ambulatory setting, according to a cross-sectional analysis of over 79,000 hospitalizations.

• Hospitalization rates for ambulatory care sensitive conditions increased significantly as income inequality increased.
• Researchers also found a significant difference in hospital length of stay (LOS) among poorer children, although they concluded that the increased LOS was not clinically important.
• The analysis was based on data from the 2014 State Inpatient Databases of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.