Socio-economic differences in healthcare access from a welfare system perspective, Italy: 2007-2010.
Inequalities between poorer and wealthier people in accessing healthcare services have been widely studied, but the mechanisms generating them are still to be fully understood. Among these, there is still a lack of evidence of relationships between health prevention/health promotion policies, welfare systems and social differences. We analysed 68 201 females from the PASSI Italian surveillance system for the years 2007-2010. The prevalence of women undergoing Pap testing was used as an example of access to preventive services. An odds ratio gradient was found with regard to different welfare system clusters: the probability of undergoing a screening test is higher for more advanced welfare systems. A strong association was found between having received a letter from the local health unit and having undergone the screening test. Significant differences still exist between high- and low-income women and their access to Italian preventive public services. As we expected, social determinants play an important role in health disparities, as these are also strongly influenced by typologies of welfare systems and by health policies.
Department of Economics, Ca' Foscari University Venice, San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873, Venice 30121, Italy marco.braggion@unive.it.
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Braggion
Department of Economics, Ca' Foscari University Venice, San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873, Venice 30121, Italy.
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Campostrini
Department of Economics, Ca' Foscari University Venice, San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873, Venice 30121, Italy.
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Bertin
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011322:Primary Prevention; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
cervical screening; healthcare access; social determinants; welfare system