Cargando…
Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure
Financial hardship is a common challenge among patients with kidney failure and may have negative health consequences. Therefore, financial status is regarded as an important determinant of health, and its impact needs to be investigated. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the differences...
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10289308/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37352190 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287510 |
_version_ | 1785062247634042880 |
---|---|
author | Ng, Marques Shek Nam Chan, Dorothy Ngo Sheung So, Winnie Kwok Wei |
author_facet | Ng, Marques Shek Nam Chan, Dorothy Ngo Sheung So, Winnie Kwok Wei |
author_sort | Ng, Marques Shek Nam |
collection | PubMed |
description | Financial hardship is a common challenge among patients with kidney failure and may have negative health consequences. Therefore, financial status is regarded as an important determinant of health, and its impact needs to be investigated. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the differences in patient-reported and clinical outcomes among kidney failure patients with different financial status. A total of 354 patients with kidney failure were recruited from March to June 2017 at two hospitals in Hong Kong. The Dialysis Symptoms Index and Kidney Disease Quality of Life-36 were used to evaluate patient-reported outcomes. Clinical outcomes were retrieved from medical records and assessed using the Karnofsky Performance Scale (functional status) and Charlson Comorbidity Index (comorbidity level). Patients were stratified using two dichotomised variables, employment status and income level, and their outcomes were compared using independent sample t-tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests. In this sample, the employment rate was 17.8% and the poverty rate was 61.2%. Compared with other patients, increased distress of specific symptoms and higher healthcare utilization, in terms of more emergency room visits and longer hospital stays, were found in patients with poorer financial status. Low-income patients reported a decreased mental quality of life. Financially underprivileged patients experienced health inequity in terms of impaired outcomes. Attention needs to be paid to these patients by providing financial assessments and interventions. Additional research is warranted to confirm these findings and understand the experience of financial hardship and health equity. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10289308 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-102893082023-06-24 Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure Ng, Marques Shek Nam Chan, Dorothy Ngo Sheung So, Winnie Kwok Wei PLoS One Research Article Financial hardship is a common challenge among patients with kidney failure and may have negative health consequences. Therefore, financial status is regarded as an important determinant of health, and its impact needs to be investigated. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify the differences in patient-reported and clinical outcomes among kidney failure patients with different financial status. A total of 354 patients with kidney failure were recruited from March to June 2017 at two hospitals in Hong Kong. The Dialysis Symptoms Index and Kidney Disease Quality of Life-36 were used to evaluate patient-reported outcomes. Clinical outcomes were retrieved from medical records and assessed using the Karnofsky Performance Scale (functional status) and Charlson Comorbidity Index (comorbidity level). Patients were stratified using two dichotomised variables, employment status and income level, and their outcomes were compared using independent sample t-tests and Mann-Whitney U-tests. In this sample, the employment rate was 17.8% and the poverty rate was 61.2%. Compared with other patients, increased distress of specific symptoms and higher healthcare utilization, in terms of more emergency room visits and longer hospital stays, were found in patients with poorer financial status. Low-income patients reported a decreased mental quality of life. Financially underprivileged patients experienced health inequity in terms of impaired outcomes. Attention needs to be paid to these patients by providing financial assessments and interventions. Additional research is warranted to confirm these findings and understand the experience of financial hardship and health equity. Public Library of Science 2023-06-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10289308/ /pubmed/37352190 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287510 Text en © 2023 Ng et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Ng, Marques Shek Nam Chan, Dorothy Ngo Sheung So, Winnie Kwok Wei Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
title | Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
title_full | Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
title_fullStr | Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
title_full_unstemmed | Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
title_short | Health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
title_sort | health inequity associated with financial hardship among patients with kidney failure |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10289308/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37352190 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287510 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT ngmarquessheknam healthinequityassociatedwithfinancialhardshipamongpatientswithkidneyfailure AT chandorothyngosheung healthinequityassociatedwithfinancialhardshipamongpatientswithkidneyfailure AT sowinniekwokwei healthinequityassociatedwithfinancialhardshipamongpatientswithkidneyfailure |