title: Smoking and consistently high use of medical care among older HMO members.
abstract: Smoking behavior of consistently high and low users of medical care services were compared in two groups of older health maintenance organization (HMO) members continuously enrolled for five years and a subgroup who were continuously enrolled for 10 years. Smokers and former smokers, combined, were more likely than never-smokers to be consistently high users of ambulatory services (52 percent vs 34 percent in the five-year group, and 45 percent vs 30 percent in the 10-year group).
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente, Portland, OR 97215.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Freeborn
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mullooly
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: McFarland
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015205:Northwestern United States; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012907:Smoking / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors