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The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context

Much of the Canadian population reports some level of difficulty in accessing health care services. Despite being a recognized determinant of health, the relationship between access to health care and overall health has not been examined extensively. This study is an analysis of the Canadian Communi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Garrod, Matthew, Vafaei, Afshin, Martin, Lynn
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7727055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33343198
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1178632920977904
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author Garrod, Matthew
Vafaei, Afshin
Martin, Lynn
author_facet Garrod, Matthew
Vafaei, Afshin
Martin, Lynn
author_sort Garrod, Matthew
collection PubMed
description Much of the Canadian population reports some level of difficulty in accessing health care services. Despite being a recognized determinant of health, the relationship between access to health care and overall health has not been examined extensively. This study is an analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey 2016 database. A composite score for difficulty in accessing health care was constructed based on several survey questions. Self-rated health (SRH), the measure of general health status, was compared between individuals with and without difficulty in accessing health care services by estimating prevalence rate ratios adjusting for age, sex, education, income, urban/rural status, race, and Indigenous status. After adjustment for pertinent confounders, difficulty in accessing health care was not statistically significantly associated with SRH. However, in stratified models, difficulty accessing health care was associated with a 12% lower probability of reporting good SRH among non-white individuals. Test of interactions for other social determinants was not significant. For racial minorities, inequalities in access to health care are associated with lower self-rated health. Further research to investigate causes underlying difficulties in accessing health care could lead to public health programs ensuring all Canadians receive equal health care services.
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spelling pubmed-77270552020-12-18 The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context Garrod, Matthew Vafaei, Afshin Martin, Lynn Health Serv Insights Original Research Much of the Canadian population reports some level of difficulty in accessing health care services. Despite being a recognized determinant of health, the relationship between access to health care and overall health has not been examined extensively. This study is an analysis of the Canadian Community Health Survey 2016 database. A composite score for difficulty in accessing health care was constructed based on several survey questions. Self-rated health (SRH), the measure of general health status, was compared between individuals with and without difficulty in accessing health care services by estimating prevalence rate ratios adjusting for age, sex, education, income, urban/rural status, race, and Indigenous status. After adjustment for pertinent confounders, difficulty in accessing health care was not statistically significantly associated with SRH. However, in stratified models, difficulty accessing health care was associated with a 12% lower probability of reporting good SRH among non-white individuals. Test of interactions for other social determinants was not significant. For racial minorities, inequalities in access to health care are associated with lower self-rated health. Further research to investigate causes underlying difficulties in accessing health care could lead to public health programs ensuring all Canadians receive equal health care services. SAGE Publications 2020-12-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7727055/ /pubmed/33343198 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1178632920977904 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Original Research
Garrod, Matthew
Vafaei, Afshin
Martin, Lynn
The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context
title The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context
title_full The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context
title_fullStr The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context
title_full_unstemmed The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context
title_short The Link Between Difficulty in Accessing Health Care and Health Status in a Canadian Context
title_sort link between difficulty in accessing health care and health status in a canadian context
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7727055/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33343198
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1178632920977904
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