Gender differences in the utilization of health-care services among the older adult population of Spain

BMC Public Health

Table 3 Odds ratios (95% confidence limits) of health-care services use by women versus men.

Health Service	Crude OR	OR adjusted for predisposing factors	OR adjusted for need factors	OR adjusted for chronic diseases and HRQL	OR adjusted for enabling factors
Visit to medical practitioner ≥once per month	1.24 (1.07–1.44)**	1.09 (0.90–1.33)	0.90 (0.72–1.12)	0.99 (0.84–1.15)	0.97 (0.80–1.19)
Home visit ≥once per year	1.67 (1.34–2.10)**	1.31 (0.98–1.75)	1.26 (0.88–1.81)	1.24 (0.97–1.58)	1.31 (1.00–1.75)*
Hospital admission in the preceding year	0.95 (0.79–1.14)	0.90 (0.71–1.16)	0.85 (0.64–1.14)	0.68 (0.56–0.84)**	0.79 (0.61–1.02)
Influenza vaccination in the most recent campaign	0.94 (0.82–1.09)	0.91 (0.74–1.10)	0.76 (0.61–0.94)*	0.85 (0.73–0.99)*	0.77 (0.64–0.94)*
Current intake of ≥3 medications	1.54 (1.34–1.79)**	1.35 (1.11–1.63)**	1.05 (0.84–1.33)	1.04 (0.88–1.23)	1.24 (1.02–1.51)*
Overall utilisation (≥1 of the above health-care services)	1.44 (1.20–1.74)**	1.19 (0.92–1.54)	0.98 (0.74–1.30)	1.00 (0.82–1.23)	0.92 (0.71–1.20)

OR: Odds ratio. HRQL: Health-related quality of life. Predisposing factors: Age, and head-of-family status. Need factors: Physical activity, tobacco, alcohol consumption, arterial hypertension, number of chronic diseases, Lawton and Brody index of limitations in independent activities of daily living, cognitive deficit with the Cognition Mini-Exam, and physical and mental summary scores of the SF-36. Enabling factors: Educational level, marital status, head-of-family employment status, and social network. * p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.

ISSN: 1471-2458