Introduction: The purpose of our study was to explore what characteristics impact access and utilization of physical therapy (PT) for people with sickle cell disease (SCD). Review of Literature: SCD causes functional impairments and decreases quality of life. PT can reduce complications; however, it is unknown what variables impact access and utilization. Subjects: People with SCD who received care in acute care or outpatient settings between 2016-2024. Methods: Variables retrieved included age, race, gender, insurance, area deprivation index, admission type, diagnosis, pain, PT referral and evaluation, and medications. Logistic regression identified factors for predicting access and utilization. Results: Retrieval identified 55 926 episodes with a diagnosis of SCD. Being uninsured decreased referrals (odds ratio OR 0.106). Variables that increased referral included age (age 41-60 years, OR 2.166; age >60, OR 3.329), presence of pain (OR 2.131), and access to hydroxyurea (OR 3.196). Age <20 years (OR 0.519) decreased utilization, whereas access to medication (hydroxyurea, OR 4.993; voxelotor, OR 2.719); pain (OR 66.424) and being in the acute care setting (OR 18.403) increased utilization. Conclusion: Variables were found to impact access and utilization. Implementation of these findings may aid in the development of clinical pathways and improve quality of life.
Marchese et al. (Mon,) studied this question.