Alcohol use and health care utilization in rural Liberia: Results of a community-based survey for basic public health indicators

Weil, Ana A.; Cameron, Corey M.; Soumerai, Jacob D.; Dierberg, Kerry; Mouwon, Alphonso Geelue; Kraemer, David R. B.; Lewy, Daniela; Lee, Patrick T.; Kraemer, John; Siedner, Mark J.

doi:10.7895/ijadr.v3i2.147

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Second, the current study found that among Chinese adults, people who regularly drank alcohol were less likely to use outpatient and inpatient care than non-regular drinkers. The result is consistent with findings for American drinkers [19], rural Liberia drinkers [20], and German drinkers [37]. Three possible reasons may explain the inverse relationship between regular drinking and healthcare utilization: firstly, people who regularly drink alcohol may not care about their health status or maybe risk-tolerant individuals [22,38].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

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The Effects of Smoking, Regular Drinking, and Unhealthy Weight on Healthcare Utilization in China

Mao

Chen

2020

Preprint

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Background: The preventable risk factors such as smoking, harmful drinking, and unhealthy weight have contributed to the accelerated rise in non-communicable chronic diseases that are dominant drivers of health care use and spending in China. This study aimed to ascertain the effects of smoking, regular drinking, and unhealthy weight on healthcare utilization in China. Methods: The database used in this study was obtained from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), and the final sample consisted of 63,260 adults in all the five waves of data collection. The fixed effects logistic regression model was used for the analysis. Results: The current study found that among Chinese adults, current and former smokers were more likely to use outpatient and inpatient care compared to those who never smoked. Former smokers increased the odds of using outpatient and inpatient care than current smokers. Moreover, compared to healthy weight people, obese people increased the likelihood of using outpatient and inpatient care, and overweight people were more likely to be hospitalized. In contrast, people who regularly drank alcohol were less likely to use outpatient and inpatient care than non-regular drinkers. Conclusion: This study ascertained the effects of smoking, regular drinking, and unhealthy weight on healthcare utilization in China using a five-waves of balanced panel data set. These results may have important implications for supporting the government to make healthcare resources allocation decisions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Some studies presented that problematic alcohol users are associated with higher healthcare utilization, including outpatient visits, emergency services, and hospitalization compared to abstainers [15,16]. In contrast, many studies found that alcohol users are associated with lower health care use than abstainers [14,[17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Smoking, Regular Drinking, and Unhealthy Weight on Healthcare Utilization in China

Mao

Chen

2020

Preprint

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“…However, although highly remote populations are rarely study populations, they are fairly common in many countries across the continent. Second, objectively measured distances are often dichotomized into closer and farther populations [ 16 , 35 ], which obscures the effect of farther distances. Finally, many studies use self–reported distance or travel time, which frequently suffer from imprecision 16 and would likely bias the measured association toward the null.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remoteness and maternal and child health service utilization in rural Liberia: A population–based survey

Kenny¹,

Basu²,

Ballard³

et al. 2015

Journal of Global Health

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BackgroundThis study seeks to understand distance from health facilities as a barrier to maternal and child health service uptake within a rural Liberian population. Better understanding the relationship between distance from health facilities and rural health care utilization is important for post–Ebola health systems reconstruction and for general rural health system planning in sub–Saharan Africa.MethodsCluster–sample survey data collected in 2012 in a very rural southeastern Liberian population were analyzed to determine associations between quartiles of GPS–measured distance from the nearest health facility and the odds of maternal (ANC, facility–based delivery, and PNC) and child (deworming and care seeking for ARI, diarrhea, and fever) service use. We estimated associations by fitting simple and multiple logistic regression models, with standard errors adjusted for clustered data.FindingsLiving in the farthest quartile was associated with lower odds of attending 1–or–more ANC checkup (AOR = 0.04, P < 0.001), 4–or–more ANC checkups (AOR = 0.13, P < 0.001), delivering in a facility (AOR = 0.41, P = 0.006), and postnatal care from a health care worker (AOR = 0.44, P = 0.009). Children living in all other quartiles had lower odds of seeking facility–based fever care (AOR for fourth quartile = 0.06, P < 0.001) than those in the nearest quartile. Children in the fourth quartile were less likely to receive deworming treatment (AOR = 0.16, P < 0.001) and less likely (but with only marginal statistical significance) to seek ARI care from a formal HCW (AOR = 0.05, P = 0.05). Parents in distant quartiles more often sought ARI and diarrhea care from informal providers.ConclusionsWithin a rural Liberian population, distance is associated with reduced health care uptake. As Liberia rebuilds its health system after Ebola, overcoming geographic disparities, including through further dissemination of providers and greater use of community health workers should be prioritized.

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“…Some studies have shown that problematic alcohol users are more likely to use health care, including outpatient visits, emergency services, and hospitalization, than abstainers [ 18 , 19 ]. In contrast, many studies have found that alcohol users are less likely to use health care than abstainers [ 17 , 20 – 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of smoking, regular drinking, and unhealthy weight on health care utilization in China

Mao

2021

BMC Public Health

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Background Preventive risk factors such as smoking, drinking, and unhealthy weight have contributed to the accelerated rise in noncommunicable chronic diseases, which are dominant drivers of health care utilization and spending in China. However, few studies have been conducted using a large longitudinal dataset to explore the impact of such preventive risk factors on health care utilization. Therefore, this study aimed to ascertain the effects of smoking, regular drinking, and unhealthy weight on health care utilization in China. Methods This research was a longitudinal study using data from five waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted between 2010 and 2018, and the final sample consisted of 63,260 observations (12,652 participants) across all five waves of data collection. Health care utilization was measured from two perspectives: outpatient utilization and inpatient utilization. Smoking status was categorized as never smoker, former smoker, or current smoker. Unhealthy weight was classified based on the participants’ body mass index. A fixed effects logistic regression model was used for the analysis. Results The results of fixed effects logistic regression showed that current and former smokers were approximately 1.9 times and 2.0 times more likely to use outpatient care than those who never smoked, respectively (odds ratio (OR) = 1.88, p < 0.05; OR = 2.03, p < 0.05). Obese people were approximately 1.3 times more likely to use outpatient care than healthy weight people (OR = 1.26, p < 0.05). Moreover, the results show that compared to those who never smoked, for current and former smokers, the odds of being hospitalized increased by 42.2 and 198.2%, respectively (OR = 1.42; p < 0.1, OR = 2.98; p < 0.05). Compared to healthy weight people, overweight and obese people were also more likely to be hospitalized (OR = 1.11; p < 0.1, OR = 1.18; p < 0.1, respectively). Conclusion Among Chinese adults, current and former smokers were more likely to use outpatient and inpatient care than those who had never smoked. Moreover, compared to healthy weight people, obese people were more likely to use outpatient and inpatient care, and overweight people were more likely to use inpatient care. These results may have important implications that support the government in making health care resource allocation decisions.

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Alcohol use and health care utilization in rural Liberia: Results of a community-based survey for basic public health indicators

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

The Effects of Smoking, Regular Drinking, and Unhealthy Weight on Healthcare Utilization in China

The Effects of Smoking, Regular Drinking, and Unhealthy Weight on Healthcare Utilization in China

Remoteness and maternal and child health service utilization in rural Liberia: A population–based survey

The effects of smoking, regular drinking, and unhealthy weight on health care utilization in China

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