• Grace E Heersping and Molly E Waring.
• Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States.
• Fam Pract. 2023 Jan 23.

BackgroundPreventive health care provides opportunity for preventive screenings and health promotion. Mothers of young children may disproportionately experience barriers to preventive care during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsWe examined delaying and skipping preventive health care during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic among mothers and described reasons for delaying or skipping care. Mothers of children aged 0-12 years from the United States completed an online survey in February/March 2021 and reported receipt of preventive care during the COVID-19 pandemic, reasons for delaying or skipping care, demographics, and experiences with COVID-19.ResultsParticipants (N = 306) were on average 35.9 (SD: 6.2) years old, racially/ethnically diverse, and 74.8% had at least a Bachelor's degree. From March 2020 to March 2021, 16.0% delayed and 20.6% skipped their physical examination, and 20.9% had not planned on receiving a physical examination. The most common reasons for delaying and skipping care were COVID-19 infection concerns, perception that delaying care would not negatively impact health, provider rescheduling, time, and childcare.ConclusionsPrimary care teams may need to re-engage mothers who skipped preventive care during the pandemic, including addressing concerns about COVID-19 infection.© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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