Health status and healthcare service needs for the rural elderly population in Northern Jiangsu

Abstract

Objective To study the health status, the current health service needs and the influencing factors concerning the rural elderly population in Northern Jiangsu. Methods Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling was conducted in elderly people over 60 in Xuzhou, Lianyungang, and Suqian.Participants were face-to-face interviewed with questionnaires.Information on health status and health service needs was collected and analyzed. Results A total of 2655 elderly people were enrolled in this study, including 1252 males(47.2%)and 1403(52.8%)females with a mean age of(70.9±6.7)years.Self-assessed health was generally poor, with the two-week morbidity at 26.6% and the prevalence of chronic diseases at 60.1%; 46.5% of the participants regularly took medications; 4.1% of them had physical disability; 8.2% had impaired daily activities; The two-week hospital visit rate was 29.4%; The one-year hospitalization rate was 18.5%; The rate of non-hospitalization for people in need of hospitalization was 27.6%.Multivariate analysis showed that old age(OR=5.51), adequate income(OR=2.29)and short journey to a medical institution(OR=7.90)were associated with high two-week hospital visit rates; old age(OR=1.76), female gender(OR=1.36), empty-nest(OR=1.37), family harmony(OR=1.91), having chronic diseases(OR=3.49), and high frequency in taking medications(OR=1.69)were correlated with high hospitalization rates. Conclusions The elderly population in rural areas of Northern Jiangsu shows poor health, has high needs for health services, and lacks sufficient service utilization. Key words: Health status; Health services needs and demand; Aged, rural population