Abstract
IntroductionIn the Netherlands, as in other Western countries, ethnic minority elderly are more often in poorer health than the indigenous population. The expectation is that this health disadvantage results in more frequent use of health care services.MethodsWe studied registered data on the proportion of health care receivers, frequency of use, and health care costs collected by a major Dutch health insurance company in 2010. Data from 10,316 Turkish, 14,490 Moroccan, 8,619 Surinamese, and 1,064 Moluccan adults aged 55 years and older were compared with data from a sample of 33,725 ethnic Dutch older adults.ResultsUnadjusted and adjusted (for age and gender) analyses showed the following. Moluccans had lower usage levels for all types of health care services. Use of primary health care facilities was higher for Turks, Moroccans, and Surinamese compared with the ethnic Dutch, with the exception that physical therapy was less frequently used among the Turks and Moroccans. Use of hospital care was lower, except for the Surinamese, who had a similar level of usage to that of the ethnic Dutch.ConclusionsThe health disadvantage previously observed within most ethnic minority elderly populations does not result in an overall more frequent use of health care services. Further research is needed for the interpretation of the ethnic variations in health care use as potentially inequitable, by taking medical need, patient treatment preferences, and treatment adherence into account.
Highlights
In the Netherlands, as in other Western countries, ethnic minority elderly are more often in poorer health than the indigenous population
These studies showed that general practitioners (GPs) service use to be higher whereas the use of outpatient hospital care, and physical therapy was lower to Verhagen et al International Journal for Equity in Health (2014) 13:125 absent among the four ethnic minority elderly populations compared to ethnic Dutch elderly
The database includes data on most of the health services provided by general practitioners (GPs) and by other primary care professionals
Summary
In the Netherlands, as in other Western countries, ethnic minority elderly are more often in poorer health than the indigenous population. The expectation is that the Despite their number is rapidly rising in the Netherlands recent research on this domain remains scarce This is in line with the lack of international research on health care use within elderly ethnic minority populations as be observed in a recently published review [1]. Most recent Dutch studies are based on data collected in 2003 in a large sample of Surinamese, Turks, Moroccans, and Antillean aged 55 years and older [3,4] These studies showed that GP service use to be higher whereas the use of outpatient hospital care, and physical therapy was lower to Verhagen et al International Journal for Equity in Health (2014) 13:125 absent among the four ethnic minority elderly populations compared to ethnic Dutch elderly
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