Evaluating the effect of village health workers on hospital admission rates and their economic impact in the Kingdom of Bhutan

Table 1 Summary of our disease models from the multivariate logistic regression after controlling for the defined parameters within Bhutan

Disease Models	OR for Village Health Worker (VHW) Count	97·5% Confidence Interval	p-value	Pseudo-R² (McFadden’s)	Deviance (G²)
Conjunctivitis	0.9997	(0.9989, 1.0005)	ns	0.65	16095***
Diarrhea	0.9885	(0.9879, 0.9890)	P < .001	0.74	324756***
Dysentery	0.9807	(0.9790, 0.9824)	P < .001	0.63	4505***
Wound Care	0.9848	(0.9843, 0.9853)	P < .001	0.78	49345***
Scabies	0.9998	(0.9985, 1.0011)	ns	0.64	6639***
Depression/Anxiety	0.9637	(0.9615, 0.9660)	P < .001	0.65	4050***
Dental Caries	0.9704	(0.9699, 0.9708)	P < .001	0.54	50493***
Skin Infections	0.9909	(0.9905, 0.9914)	P < .001	0.72	60077***

P-Value for Deviance Goodness-of-Fit Test:
* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001
Table 1 shows that after adjusting for other covariates, our logit models indicate that an average one unit increase of VHWs per health center is associated with a decrease in hospital/clinic admission for diarrhea (OR 0.9885, 97.5%CI 0.9879, 0.9890), dysentery (OR 0.9807, 97.5%CI 0.9790, 0.9824), wound care (OR 0.9848, 97.5%CI 0.9843, 0.9853), depression/anxiety (OR 0.9637, 97.5%CI 0.9615, 0.9660), dental caries (OR 0.9704, 97.5%CI 0.9699, 0.9708), and skin infection (OR 0.9909, 97.5%CI 0.9905, 0.9914), while a non-significant increase was observed for scabies (OR 0.9998, 97.5%CI 0.9985, 10,011) and conjunctivitis (OR 0.9997, 97.5%CI 0.9989, 1.0005). For model fit, Table 1 details key fit descriptors by reporting the McFadden’s Pseudo-R² and deviance statistics for each of the models. The deviance statistics were all significant, thereby indicating that our models were superior to their null (intercept-only) counterparts. Lastly, the high McFadden’s Pseudo-R² values also indicates that the model is well fit. The level of signifcane for each of the deviance tests is reflected by * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

ISSN: 1471-2458