Health problems of homeless children in New York City.

Abstract

We reviewed the outpatient medical records of 265 homeless children less than 5 years of age in New York City and compared them with children of similar low socioeconomic status (SES) attending the same pediatric clinic. The frequency of health problems among the homeless children, including delayed immunizations, elevated blood lead levels, the rate of admission to hospital, and the rate of child abuse and neglect reports, exceeded those for the comparison groups.