Rural-urban differences in service use for memory-related problems in older adults.
The reduced availability of providers and travel difficulties in rural areas may thwart older rural adults from getting the care they need for memory-related problems. The purpose of this study was to determine whether rural-urban differences exist in the probability of any service use of primary care physicians and mental health specialists in a full sample of older adults and in a subset of impaired respondents. In the full sample, rural respondents were 0.66 times as likely (p = .06) to have used primary care physicians for memory-related problems compared with urban respondents. In the subgroup, rural individuals were 0.26 times as likely (p = .02). In both groups, there were no rural-urban differences in the probability of mental health specialty use for memory-related problems. Further investigations are necessary to determine the causes.
Chumbler
N R
NR
Geriatric Center of Excellence, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System, USA. chumbler@hpe.ufl.edu
Cody
M
M
Booth
B M
BM
Beck
C K
CK
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015984:Causality; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015144:Southeastern United States; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013714:Tennessee; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*