Do lower socioeconomic groups use more health services, because they suffer from more illnesses?
BACKGROUND
The more diseases one suffers from, the higher the number of health care services attended. This study aims to examine the role this association plays in socio-economic differences in multiple health care utilization.


METHODS
The study population derived from the Netherlands Health Interview Surveys (1990-1998) and was 25 years or older (N=53,339). Socio-economic position was indicated by educational level. Comorbidity was defined as the concurrence of multiple health conditions in the same person. Multiple health care utilization was measured by the number of different health care services contacted in the preceding year. Logistic multiple regression was used, adjusted for age, gender and year of interview.


RESULTS
The lower the socioeconomic status, the more often people used multiple health care services (OR 1.46) and the higher the prevalence of comorbidity (OR 2.47).


CONCLUSIONS
Lower socioeconomic groups use more health care services, partly because they suffer from more illnesses.
Droomers
Mariël
M
Centre for Prevention and Health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands. mariel.droomers@rivm.nl
Westert
Gert P
GP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors