title: Is it enough scintigraphy for everyone? A cross-sectional analysis regarding the impact of justice in the distribution of health care resources.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of three demographic criteria: gender, age and education level on the patients that perform a scintigraphy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was applied to 220 patients to whom it was prescribed a scintigraphy by their treating physician. Of these, 74 were men and 145 women, 10 children and 210 adults. According to their education, 88 people did not graduate a high school, a total of 56 people graduated a high school, 27 persons graduated a college, 22 people had a university diploma and 26 people a PhD title. The chi-square test was used to analyze the frequencies for the measurable variables on a nominal scale. The significance threshold is considered to be 0.05, so, only the values which are smaller were taken into consideration. We presented and analyzed only the data that fulfill this condition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From our study it has been found that gender criterion played an important role in performing a scintigraphy for the first time. 71.6% of male patients were undergoing a scintigraphy for the first time. The frequency of exploration by scintigraphy is increasing if you are a female patient than if you are a male patient: chi-square calculated value is chi2 (3)=12.398, p=0.006. From our study it has been found that age item plays an important role in the scintigraphy investigations for all the patients. The first scintigraphy was significantly performed in the 40-50 years old gap, whilst for the patients being aged over 60; they were probably not performing a first time scintigraphy. We did not find significant statistical differences in respect of the education level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  So, we can conclude that access to that medical investigation is not depending on the socioeconomic status of the patient, but in some occasions, the number and the frequency distribution of performing a scintigraphy depend on gender and age. We can also conclude that the principle of egalitarianism is fulfilled and so the justice principle in the distribution of health care resources must be reevaluated.
authors.affiliation: University of Medicine and Pharmacy Grigore T. Popa - Iaşi, Department of Morpho-Functional Science. sorinmiron@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Miron
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guţu
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Astărăstoae
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000592:standards; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012383:Romania; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires