Health services utilization by older adults in rural and urban areas of Brazil

Abstract

Objective To assess health services utilization by older adults in urban and rural areas of Brazil. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted analyzing data from the 2019 National Health Survey on older adults (≥60 years) selected from households based on 22,728 interviews (3,300 in rural and 19,426 in urban areas). For rural and urban areas, the prevalence of Family Health Strategy enrolment, time since last medical and dental visit, service use in past 2 weeks, and last blood pressure and blood glucose measurements were estimated. Also, the factors associated with medical and dental health services utilization in the past 12 months were explored. Results Self-rated health of “Very good” or “Good” was greater in urban areas (47.32%), as was the proportion of older adults reporting a medical or dental visit within the last 12 months (90.54%). Rates of blood pressure (81.30%) and glucose (45.83%) monitoring were lower in rural areas. Older individuals that had low education, resided in rural areas, and the North region, had a lower likelihood of using health services Conclusion The older population living in rural areas had poorer health status compared with the urban population.