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- Title
Postponing a General Practitioner Visit: Describing Social Differences in Thirty-One European Countries.
- Authors
Detollenaere, Jens; Van Pottelberge, Amelie; Hanssens, Lise; Pauwels, Lieven; Loenen, Tessa; Willems, Sara
- Abstract
<bold>Objective: </bold>To describe social differences in postponing a general practitioner visit in 31 European countries and to explore whether primary care strength is associated with postponement rates.<bold>Data Sources: </bold>Between October 2011 and December 2013, the multicountry QUALICOPC study collected data on 61,931 patients and 7,183 general practitioners throughout Europe.<bold>Study Design: </bold>Access to primary care was measured by asking the patients whether they postponed a general practitioner visit in the past year. Social differences were described according to patients' self-rated household income, education, ethnicity, and gender.<bold>Data Collection/extraction Methods: </bold>Data were analyzed using multivariable and multilevel binomial logistic regression analyses.<bold>Principal Findings: </bold>According to the variance-decomposition in the multilevel analysis, most of the variance can be explained by patient characteristics. Postponement of general practitioner care is higher for patients with a low self-rated household income, a low education level, and a migration background. In addition, although the point estimates are consistent with a substantial effect, no statistically significant association between primary care strength and postponement in the 31 countries is determined.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Despite the universal and egalitarian goals of health care systems, access to general practitioner care in Europe is still determined by patients' socioeconomic status (self-rated household income and education) and migration background.
- Subjects
EUROPE; GENERAL practitioners; PRIMARY care; LOGISTIC regression analysis; PATIENTS; HEALTH facilities; HEALTH services accessibility; IMMIGRANTS; MEDICAL appointments; NATIONAL health services; PRIMARY health care; SEX distribution; SOCIOECONOMIC factors; CROSS-sectional method
- Publication
Health Services Research, 2017, Vol 52, Issue 6, p2099
- ISSN
0017-9124
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1111/1475-6773.12669