Physician visits in a farming-dependent county.
Physician visits in a farming-dependent county in the upper-Midwest were studied using a mail questionnaire. A 16 percent random sample of households yielded 426 surveys (60 percent response rate). The dependent variable was the natural log (plus one) of the number of times the respondent had seen a physician in the prior 12 months. Predisposing, enabling, and medical need variables were tested as potential predictors of medical care usage. Self-rated health status proved to be an important predictor, as was a history of hospitalization and being married. However, health insurance coverage and family income were not associated with increased physician visits. Implications for modifying the conceptual model employed to analyze medical care utilization in similar populations are discussed.
Rohrer
J E
JE
University of Iowa, Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Iowa City 52242, USA.
Urdaneta
M
M
Vaughn
T
T
Merchant
J A
JA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000383:Agriculture; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D007484:Iowa; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors