Geographical patterns in contacts with general practitioners
Session
Health and social differnces
Abstract
Geographical patterns in the number of contacts with the general practitioner are seen. Large differences are seen in median income in the municipalities. A negative association was seen between socio-economic position and the number of contacts with the general practitioner. Individuals in municipalities with a low median disposable income had more contacts with the general practitioner. The study demonstrates large differences in the number of contacts with the general practitioners in Denmark which is of importance for further improvement of the primary health service.
Målgruppe
Målgruppen er sundhedsplanlæggere, demografer, forskere og andre professionelle med interesse i geografiske forskelle i brug af sundhedsvæsenet og association til sociodemografi.
Yderligere uddybning af abstract
The mean annual number of contacts with the general practitioner is 7.5 for the adult population in Denmark. The number of contacts increases by age, and females have more contacts than men.
The aim of the study was to examine the geographical variation in the number of contacts with the general practitioner and to estimate the association between socio-economic position and the number of contacts with the general practitioner.
The study is based on Danish health-related registers including the adult population (age ≥16 years) in 2013. Contact with the general practitioner is registered in the Danish National Health Service Register. The register is used for reimbursement of services, and the completeness of the register is considered to be high. The socio-economic position was measured as disposable income categorized in quantiles by age groups (16-29, 30-64, 65+). Municipality was the geographical unit of the study.
The study included approximately 4.5 million Danish residents. The geographical distribution of the annual number of contacts with the general practitioner varied considerable. The geographical distribution was examined stratified by age group (16-29, 30-64, 65+). It is seen that municipalities in the Copenhagen area had the lowest number of contacts with the general practitioner (5-6 contacts for age group 30-64 years) whereas municipalities in Southern Jutland, Southern part of Zealand, Bornholm and parts of Eastern and Northern Jutland had the largest number of contacts (7-8 contacts for age group 30-64 years).
The geographical distribution of the disposable income stratified by age group showed large differences. Municipalities in the southern parts of Denmark had the lowest disposable income whereas municipalities in the Copenhagen and Aarhus areas had the highest disposable income.
A negative association was seen between median income in the municipality and the number of contacts with the general practitioner, especially for the age group 30-64 years.
The study indicates large variation in the number of contacts with the general practitioner in Denmark. The geographical patterns in contacts with the general practitioner could partly be explained by differences in socio-economic position. Furthermore, variation in the number of contacts with the general practitioner could be due to differences in access to the general practitioner and differences in health status.
