title: Parental involvement in pediatric cardiology outpatient visits.
abstract: There is a lack of information regarding parental involvement in subspecialty care of their offspring. We evaluated trends in 3,118 parental visits, accompanied by their children to a pediatric cardiology office during a 5-year period. Offspring accompanied both parents 29%, mothers alone 64%, and fathers alone 5% of the total visits. The rates were similar for first-time visits and this trend was similar across all 5 years. Children were significantly younger when accompanied by both parents than by individual parents. Mothers play a major role in a child's subspecialty care. Our findings have important educational, social, research, and marketing implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Cardiovascular Center, Fairview Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Health System and Case Western Reserve University, Ohio 44111-5656, USA.
authors.forename: Sudhir Ken
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D002309:Cardiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005220:Fathers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D010290:Parents; D014481:United States