Osong Public Health Res Perspect.
2019 Oct;10(5):295-306. 10.24171/j.phrp.2019.10.5.06.
Neighborhood Deprivation and Unmet Health Care Needs: A Multilevel Analysis of Older Individuals in South Korea
- Affiliations
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- 1Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
- 2Department of Statistics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, United States.
- 3Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine, Chungnam National University, Research Institute for Medical Sciences, Daejeon, Korea. woung@cnu.ac.kr
- 4Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Busan National University, Busan, Korea.
- 5Center for Health Policy Research, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Sejong, Korea.
- 6Department of Health Care Policy Research, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, Sejong, Korea.
- KMID: 2462526
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2019.10.5.06
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
In this study the relationship between neighborhood deprivation and the unmet health care needs of elderly individuals (≥ 65 years) was examined. Some previous studies suggested that neighborhood characteristics affect access to health care, yet research on the unmet needs of older individuals is limited.
METHODS
Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship of neighborhood-level factors with unmet health care needs due to costs, adjusting for individual-level factors, in individuals ≥ 65 years in the 2017 Korean Community Health Survey (n = 63,388).
RESULTS
There were 2.6% of elderly individuals who experienced unmet health care needs due to costs. Following adjustment for individual and neighborhood characteristics, the neighborhood deprivation in urban areas was found to have an inverse association with unmet needs (odds ratio = 0.50; 95% confidence interval = 0.24-1.06) for the most deprived quartile versus the least deprived quartile). However, in rural areas neighborhood deprivation was not a significant variable. Among the individual-level variables, household income was one of the strongest correlates with unmet needs in both urban and rural areas.
CONCLUSION
The present findings suggest that targeted policy interventions reflecting both neighborhood and individual characteristics, should be implemented to reduce the unmet health care needs of elderly individuals.
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