Childhood poverty trajectories and trajectories of healthcare contacts in adolescence and young adulthood

Background

In this longitudinal study on Danes born 1980–2000, the objectives were to identify and describe trajectories of childhood poverty and explore their association with trajectories of contacts with the healthcare system.

Methods

Children born in Denmark from 1980–2000 were linked to national registers. Parental disposable income information was obtained for each year of the child’s life from 0–16 years. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to identify trajectories of childhood poverty. The outcome was trajectories of contacts with the healthcare system identified with group-based multi-trajectory modeling. The associations between childhood poverty trajectories and trajectories of contacts with the healthcare system were estimated using multinomial logistic regression.

Results

Four distinct groups of childhood poverty trajectories were identified. The largest group (87 %) had very low probability of childhood poverty, and the smallest group (2 %) had high probability of persistent poverty throughout childhood. Two groups experienced either early (5 %) or late (6 %) poverty in childhood. Early and late childhood poverty were associated with higher odds of being in the psychiatric use group in both sexes, and with higher odds of being in the low use and high use groups in women. Persistent poverty was associated with higher odds of being in the low use group and lower odds of being in the high use group and the psychiatric use group in both sexes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, childhood poverty is associated with healthcare contacts in adolescence and early adulthood in Denmark.