scholarly journals The Utilization of Health Care Services and their Determinants Among the Elderly Population of Dhulikhel Municipality

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Sanjel ◽  
N Mudbhari ◽  
A Risal ◽  
K Khanal

Background Population ageing is a common problem faced in many countries world-wide. Due to physiological and biochemical changes in the elderly, increased incidence of diseases is observed. There is often low use of health services by the elderly for a variety of reasons. Objective To examine the status of health care utilization and to determine the factors associated with utilization of health care among the elderly population of Dhulikhel Municipality. Methods A quantitative descriptive-cross sectional study, with a total number of 200 elderly people residing in Dhulikhel Municipality, was selected for the study. Data were collected across the months of June - July 2011 applying two-staged cluster and systematic random sampling method. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were measured. Results Sixty eight percent of the elderly visited medical personnel in the past year. Eight percent of them visited the emergency department where most of them reported with symptoms attributed to heart disease. Among 200 elderly, 12.5% of them were admitted to the hospital and 53.0% utilized diagnostic services. Age, marital status, activities of daily living, and regular medication showed significant association with health services utilization at 95% level of confidence (p >0.05). Conclusion Marital status, daily living habits, existence of chronic disease, and regular medication demonstrated significant association with the utilization of health care. Social support services, informal education, and awareness programs targeting the senior citizens and studies covering a diverse population are recommended. KATHMANDU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL JOURNAL  VOL.10 | NO. 1 | ISSUE 37 | JAN - MAR 2012 | 34-39 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v10i1.6911

Author(s):  
Terfa Yonas Biratu ◽  
Germossa Gugsa Nemera ◽  
Hailu Fikadu Balcha ◽  
Feyisa Garuma Tolu ◽  
Jeleta Fikru Tafese ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babul Hossain ◽  
K.S. James ◽  
Md Juel Rana

Abstract Background: The association between marital status and health status among the elderly has been at the forefront of investigation for a long time. However, the study on the effects of marital status on health care utilisation is limited. This study assesses the association between use of inpatient health services and marital status among older adults in India from the perspective of sex. Methods: Data used in the study have been obtained from the 75th Round of National Sample Survey (NSS) on "Social Consumption: Health" with the sample size of 42,762 individuals aged 60 years or above. The study implements the Andersen's behavioural framework controlling the predisposing, enabling, and need characteristics and uses binary logistic regression models to assess the effect of marital status on inpatient health service. Results: There is a significant difference in inpatient healthcare use between married and widowed elderly by age, educational level, perceived health and mobility for both sexes. The unadjusted regression analysis shows that widowed are more likely to use inpatient health services both for women (OR=1.57; CI 95%= 1.47, 1.68) and men (OR=1.11; CI 95%= 1.02, 1.2). However, after controlling the predisposing, enabling, and need factors, a strong association between healthcare services and marital status has been found for women, but not for men. Widowed women (OR=1.43; CI 95%=1.33, 1.54) are more likely to use inpatient health care than married women. Conclusion: The present study has reported the association between the utilisation of inpatient health services and marital status for the elderly in India. Our study advocates that there is a sex difference in the utilisation of inpatient health services by the marital Status in India. Older widowed women should get more focus on health and elderly policy perspectives.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bakhtiar Piroozi ◽  
Farman Zahir Abdullah ◽  
Amjad Mohamadi-Bolbanabad ◽  
Hossein Safari ◽  
Mohammad Amerzadeh ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of perceived need, seeking behavior and utilization of health services in the elderly population of Sanandaj (west of Iran). Design/methodology/approach This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 800 elderly people in Sanandaj. Subjects were selected using multistage sampling and data were collected using self-report questionnaires. A multivariate logistic model with odds ratios (ORs) was used to determine the relationship of independent variables with seeking perceived need. Also, the concentration index was used to measure the inequality in using health services. Findings The perceived need for outpatient (during the last 30 days) and inpatient health-care services (during the past 12 months) was 69.7% and 29.7%, respectively. Among them, the unmet need for outpatient and inpatient health-care services was 46.6% and 17%, respectively. Having health insurance (adjusted OR 12.08; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–140.11), middle economic status (adjusted OR 5.18; 95% CI 1.30–20.51) and being in an age group of 65–70 years (adjusted OR 7.60; CI 1.42–40.61) increased the chance of seeking inpatient care. Also, being in an age group of 60–65 years (adjusted OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.18–0.95) reduced the chance of seeking outpatient care. There was also a pro-rich inequality in using outpatient health services. Originality/value The elderly population suffers from unmet health-care needs, especially in outpatient services. The most important reason for not seeking outpatient and inpatient services was financial barriers and self-medication, respectively. So, designing targeted policies and interventions to address barriers in the conversion of need to demand in the elderly population is essential.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. HSI.S3087 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Wong ◽  
P.H. Chau ◽  
W. Goggins ◽  
J. Woo

Introduction Levels of utilization of health services vary socially and geographically. Differences in the rates of usage are also associated with geographical aspects of health care systems. The purpose of this study was to capture spatial variations in hospital health services utilization in the elderly population in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China. Materials and Methods We carried out a secondary analysis of a database from the Hospital Authority (HA) which covers 98% (N = 243,245) of the total registered deaths in Hong Kong during 1999 to 2005. Deaths at age 65y and above (N = 184,671) were included in the analysis. Age-sex weighted mean utilization ratio of hospital services was calculated by dividing the age-sex weighted mean usage of a particular service for each district by that for the whole territory. The variation in utilization by the seniors was analyzed in terms of four types of services: length of stay (LOS) in HA hospitals, number of inpatient admissions, number of visits to specialist outpatient department (SOPD), and attendances at accident and emergency department (AED). Results Deaths at age 65y and above contributed to 76% of the total registered deaths. Each district contributed 1.0% to 9.1% of the total number of deaths in Hong Kong. Spatial analysis of the age-sex weighted mean utilization ratio showed significant geographic variation in the use of hospital services: the range of difference in the LOS between the lowest and highest district was 44%, while some differences as high as 33%, 35% and 39% in utilization ratios were observed in relation to number of inpatient admissions, visits to SOPD, and attendances at AED respectively. However, the patterns of these variations were not consistent for the four types of service being analyzed. Conclusions Geographic variation in the utilization of hospital health services across the 18 districts in Hong Kong among the elderly population during the last three years before death was demonstrated. However, the patterns of variation were different for the types of services being examined. Further studies using primary data at an individual level are needed to explain the variations. Detailed analysis examining the relationship between service provision, accessibility and health outcomes are also indicated in order to inform the planning of health service delivery.


Nowadays, Thailand is stepping into an aging society. This research purposes developing the intelligence walking stick for the elderly in terms of the health care system by applied the IoT devices and biometric sensors in a real-time system. The heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and temperature were measured at the finger of the elderly that holding the intelligence walking stick. All data can monitor and display on mobile devices. The intelligence walking stick system was evaluated by twenty users who are five experts and fifteen elderly in Ratchaburi province. As a result of the mean value at 4.88 and 4.85 by experts and elderly, respectively. It could be said that the development of intelligence walking stick by using IoT can help and improve the daily living of the elderly at the highest level.


1997 ◽  
Vol 352 (1363) ◽  
pp. 1887-1893 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Grimley Evans

Health services for older people in the NHS have developed pragmatically, and reflect the nature of disease in later life and the need to agree objectives of care with patients. Although services are likely to be able to cope with the immediate future, the growth of the elderly population anticipated from 2030 calls for long–term planning and research. The issue of funding requires immediate political thought and action. Scientifically the focus needs to be on maximizing the efficiency of services by health services research and reducing the incidence of disability in later life through research on its biological and social determinants. Senescence is a progressive loss of adaptability due to an interaction between intrinsic (genetic) processes with extrinsic factors in environment and lifestyle. There are grounds for postulating that a policy of postponement of the onset of disability, by modifications of lifestyle and environment, could reduce the average duration of disability before death. The new political structures of Europe offer underexploited–unexploited opportunities for the necessary research.


1995 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
I M A JOUNG ◽  
J B W VAN DER MEER ◽  
J P MACKENBACH

Author(s):  
Roger Muremyi ◽  
Dominique Haughton ◽  
François Niragire ◽  
Ignace Kabano

In Rwanda, more than 90% of the population is insured for health care. Despite the comprehensiveness of health insurance coverage in Rwanda, some health services at partner institutions are not available, causing insured patients to pay unintended cost. We aimed to analyze the effect of health insurance on health care utilization and factors associated with the use of health care services in Rwanda. This is an analysis of secondary data from the Rwanda integrated living condition survey 2016-2017. The survey gathered data from 14580 households, and decision tree and multilevel logistic regression models were applied. Among 14580 households only (20%) used health services. Heads of households aged between [56-65] years (AOR=1.28, 95% CI:1.02-1.61), aged between [66-75] years (AOR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.193-1.947), aged over 76 years (AOR=1.48, 95% CI:1.137-1.947), households with health insurance (AOR=4.57, 95% CI: 3.97-5.27) displayed a significant increase in the use of health services. This study shows evidence of the effect of health insurance on health care utilization in Rwanda: a significant increase of 4.57 times greater adjusted odds of using health services compared to those not insured. The findings from our research will guide policymakers and provide useful insights within the Rwanda context as well as for other countries that are considering moving towards universal health coverage through similar models.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document