Healthcare needs and utilization patterns of sex-trafficked youth: Missed opportunities at a children's hospital

Abstract

Background: Domestic minor sex-trafficked (DMST) youth experience profound medical and mental health consequences. This retrospective study reviewed healthcare utilization patterns and documented individualized risk factors of sex-trafficked youth in the 5 years prior to presenting to a healthcare setting. The primary aim of this study was to examine healthcare utilization patterns among DMST youth with the goal of determining opportunities for earlier identification within the healthcare system.

Methods: A chart review was conducted of all patients <18 years old referred for suspected or confirmed sex trafficking to a child and adolescent protection centre (CAPC) in an urban, academic children's hospital in Washington, DC from January 1, 2006 to March 1, 2017. Patients were seen by a child abuse pediatrician or a trauma-informed social worker in an inpatient, outpatient, or emergency department setting. Demographics and medical, psychiatric, and social history were abstracted from encounters within the hospital's healthcare system along with provider concern for DMST up to 5 years prior to their initial CAPC visit. Descriptive statistics were performed.

Results: Thirty-nine patients were identified with a mean age of 14.6 years (SD = 1.7). Ninety percent (n = 35/39) of patients were seen in the healthcare system within the 5 years prior to their initial CAPC visit, totaling 191 encounters. Of the visits, 57% (n = 108/191) occurred in the emergency department. The most common chief complaints for encounters were psychiatric (21%, n = 41/191). Less than half of the youth, 43%, had any documented provider concern for sex trafficking in their medical record prior to identification as DMST.

Conclusion: Most of this cohort was previously evaluated within the healthcare system. However, there was limited provider documentation of concern for DMST despite the presence of risk factors. Provider recognition of youth at risk for DMST is crucial for providing care for youth.

Keywords: adolescent medicine; child abuse; commercial sexual exploitation of the child; sex trafficking.