Qin S, Ni X, Ding Y. Factors Associated with the Delay in Seeing a Doctor: Evidence of Chinese Middle-Aged and Older Adults.
J Multidiscip Healthc 2023;
16:4239-4253. [PMID:
38164460 PMCID:
PMC10758318 DOI:
10.2147/jmdh.s443683]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
There have been few studies concerning delayed medical attention among middle-aged and older adults, and in-depth analyses of delay duration and symptoms have been lacking.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study exploiting a face-to-face questionnaire survey, we investigated delays in seeing a doctor among ≥ 45-year-old people in Zhejiang, China over the past year, and analyzed relevant influencing factors through logistics regression.
Results
A total of 1034 people aged ≥45 years were enrolled, whose overall occurrence of delay in seeing a doctor was 28.24% (23.00% for older adults aged ≥60 years). Factors like the presence of 2 chronic diseases, intense social loneliness, and more health care needs contributed to the occurrence of delay in seeing a doctor (OR (95% CI) = 2.102 (1.252-3.529); OR (95% CI) = 1.030 (1.002-1.059); OR (95% CI) = 1.049 (1.002-1.099). Contrastively, factors like convenient access to medical care and good self-reported health status inhibited such occurrence OR (95% CI) = 0.321 (0.199-0.519); OR (95% CI) = 0.369 (0.183-0.745). The foremost reason was wanting to wait and see if the problem would get better on its own (117, 40.07%). Respiratory system disease (14.90%), dental problems (13.82%), and cardiac disease (13.61%) constituted the top 3 types of diseases whose treatments were delayed. Additionally, for the majority of older adults, the delay duration was 1-2 weeks (99, 33.90%), and the economic burden was the cause of the longest delay in seeing a doctor among middle-aged and older adults.
Conclusion
To alleviate the problem of delay in seeing a doctor among middle-aged and older adults, their families and society should enhance care for them and reduce their sense of social loneliness. Emphasis should be placed by the government on helping middle-aged and older adults with financial difficulties so that their medical convenience can be improved.
Collapse