Factors Underlying Unmet Medical Needs: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Unmet medical needs refer to the state where a patient’s medical care or service is insufficient, inadequate, or lacking. Numerous factors influence unmet medical needs. We used a multi-pronged approach to explore the factors influencing unmet medical needs in the Korean health care system according to Anderson’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use. To this end, we used data from 11,378 adults over 19 years old in the 2016 Korea Health Panel Survey and performed multiple logistic regression analyses. The odds of experiencing unmet medical needs were significantly greater among older participants (odds ratio (OR) = 2.51, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.78–3.56); low-income participants (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.14–1.75); non-workers (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.06–1.46); those who had received non-covered treatment (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.08–1.42); those who did not regularly exercise (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.02–1.48); and those experiencing pain (OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.97–2.66), worse self-rated health status (OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.89–2.79), and severe depression (OR = 2.46, 95% CI = 1.39–4.35). About one in ten Korean citizens (11.60%) have unmet medical service needs. Policies that strengthen coverage for physically and economically vulnerable groups are needed.

Unmet Medical Care Needs Due To Payment Difficulty

“…Similar results were obtained for variables such as age [21,26,27,36], marital status [37], [40], educational status [26,39,41] and household income [28,42].…”

“…Chronic disease groups with no signi cant difference; infarction, hypertension, stroke/paralysis, diabetes, urinary incontinence, Alzheimer's. In similar studies in the literature [37], chronic diseases have a signi cant effect on unmet health care.…”

“…Results show that 13.6% of respondents in Turkey have paying di culty in medical care. Studies conducted in other countries on a similar subject were examined and in these studies, the rates such as 12% in Italy [36], 16.6% in Hungary [27] and 11.6% in Korea [37] are noteworthy.…”

Socioeconomic Determinants of Unmet Healthcare Needs in Iran

“…As complementary health insurance might not be accessible to disadvantaged groups, policy makers need to do their utmost efforts to create inclusive basic insurance programs to tackle unmet need effectively. Previous studies [32,35] also confirmed the protective effect of health insurance against unmet need. Similar to other studies [9,11,12,14], poor health status and the larger number of needs for outpatient healthcare services were the strongest predictors of unmet need in the first and second regression models.…”

Unmet Medical Needs of Patients with Benign Prostate Enlargement

“…If the patient was not treated in a timely manner, owing to the occurrence of unmet medical care, it might increase the possibility of the patient acquiring moderate degree diseases and their accompanying complications. Since preventing unmet medical care helps to alleviate symptoms, as well as to prevent and treat diseases, it is considered a medical problem that needs to be solved [11,12]. Andersen's behavioral model is used to analyze the predictors of medical service use and how these affect patient outcomes, such as health condition and health satisfaction.…”