The Role of Travel Time on Hospital Utilization in the Islands Area: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Maluku Region, Indonesia, in 2018

BACKGROUND: Maluku region is one of the vulnerable areas in Indonesia, and this region has extreme geographical conditions with thousands of islands. The study aims to analyze the role of travel time to a hospital in the Maluku region in Indonesia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed the 2018 Indonesian Basic Health Survey data. The research included 14,625 respondents by stratification and multistage random sampling. The study used hospital utilization as an outcome variable and the travel time to the hospital as an exposure variable. Moreover, the study employed nine control variables: province, residence, age, gender, marital status, education, employment, wealth, and health insurance. The study performed binary logistic regression to interpret the data in the final analysis. RESULTS: The result shows a relationship between travel time and hospital utilization. Someone with a travel time of 30 min or less to the hospital has a 1.792 (95% CI 1.756–1.828) higher probability than those with a travel time of more than 30 min. The results of this analysis find that shorter travel time to the hospital has a better possibility of hospital utilization. In addition, the study also found eight control variables to have a significant relationship with hospital utilization. CONCLUSION: Shorter travel time to the hospital is more likely to be utilized in the Maluku region.