title: GP attendance by elderly Australians: evidence for unmet need in elderly men.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine GP service use by elderly people and, in particular, to compare those who had not consulted a GP in one year with those who were low attenders and those who were high attenders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medicare data on GP service use were matched to data collected by interview in 1990-1991 and reinterview in 1994 as part of a community study on health and well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  Canberra and Queanbeyan in the Australian Capital Territory.
  
  
  METHODS
  People aged 70 years and over, living in the community.
  
  
  METHODS
  The number of visits made to a GP in 12 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Medicare data were available for 624 of the 897 participants interviewed (70%). While the women non-attenders reported similar levels of physical illness and symptoms to the low attenders, men non-attenders reported significantly higher levels of illness (P < 0.01) than the low-attender group. The health of men who were non-attenders was very similar to men who were high attenders of GP services. Men who had not seen a GP in one year reported significantly more pain (P = 0.002) and less social support than both low attenders and high attenders (P = 0.012 and P = 0.049, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified a group of men who had not attended a GP in one year, despite significant levels of morbidity. Such a group may benefit from consultation with a GP and could be targeted in any attempt to improve elderly men's health.
authors.affiliation: NHMRC Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT. Patricia.Jacomb@anu.edu.au
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Jacomb
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Jorm
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Korten
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodgers
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Christensen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009017:Morbidity; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012944:Social Support; D013038:Specialization; D016019:Survival Analysis