Parents of school-aged children (ages 6-17) were asked how many days of school their children had missed because of illness or injury during the past year. Overall, parents of 5.2 percent of children were reported to have missed 11 or more days of school.

Children with special health care needs (CSHCN), whose conditions may cause complications that require them to miss school, are more likely to miss large numbers of school days than are typical children without special health care needs. Of school-aged CSHCN, 13.5 percent missed 11 or more days of school, compared to 3.0 percent of children without special health care needs in this age group.

Lower-income children miss more days of school than children from higher-income families. Of school-aged children with family incomes below the poverty level, 8.0 percent missed 11 or more days, compared to 6.2 percent of children with family incomes between 100 and 199 percent of poverty. Of children with family incomes between 200 and 399 percent of FPL, 4.7 missed more than 11 school days, as did 3.6 percent of children with family incomes of 400 percent of FPL or more.