Resumen

MELGUIZO-HERRERA, Estela  y  CASTILLO-AVILA, Irma Y.. Factors associated with senior citizens using primary healthcare services in Cartagena, Colombia. Rev. salud pública [online]. 2012, vol.14, n.5, pp.765-775. ISSN 0124-0064.

Objective Establishing the factors associated with using healthcare services for the aged in Cartagena, Colombia. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. A 656 sample-size was estimated for a population of 66,795 senior citizens; stratified sampling was used. A questionnaire entitled "Using healthcare services" (Uso de los servicios de salud) was used; descriptive statistics and logistical regression were then used for modeling the probability of being a healthcare service user. Results 656 senior citizens participated in the study; average age was 67.9 years old. 407 of the participants had consulted for disease during the last month (62.0 %); 376 of them (92.4 %) had consulted once or twice. Living in socio-economicstrata4, 5 and/or 6 (Chi² 4.14; p=0.043), having a diagnosed disease (Chi² 3.82 p=0,051), suffering from a chronic disease (Chi² 7.0; p=0.008) or waiting for 30 minutes or less to be seen (Chi² 3.17; p=0.075) were factors associated with using primary healthcare services by senior citizens in Cartagena. Having a diagnosed disease (Chi² 3.59; p=0.0581) and waiting for 30 minutes or less to be seen (Chi² 3.02; p=0.0818) were the regression model variables explaining healthcare service use. Conclusion A senior citizen using primary healthcare services in Cartagena was influenced by variables such as residing in mid-level socio-economic strata, having a diagnosed disease, suffering from a chronic disease and waiting for 30 minutes or less to be seen.

Palabras clave : Utilización; servicios de salud; atención primaria de salud; adulto mayor; factores predisponentes; factores capacitantes; determinación de las necesidades de salud; Primary healthcare service use; senior citizen; predisposing factor; abling factors; determining healthcare needs.

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