Unmet health and social care needs and associated factors among older people aged ≥ 80 years in Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Background: The health and social care needs of people aged ≥ 80 years are a neglected topic. Aims: To determine the prevalence of unmet health and social care needs and associated factors in community-dwelling individuals aged ≥ 80 years in Izmir District of Balçova, Turkey. Methods: There were 1075 participants aged ≥ 80 years. The dependent variables were unmet health and social care needs. Independent variables were sociodemographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics. The data were collected in face-to-face interviews conducted at the homes and analysed by multiple logistic regression model. Ethical approval was obtained from the Non-Invasive Research Ethics Board of Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty (2017/26-24). Results: The mean age was 84.1 (3.7) years and 61.0% were female. Healthcare needs were expressed by 88.2% of the participants and 78.9% claimed that they had social care needs. Prevalence of unmet health and social care needs was 32.5% and 46.6%, respectively. Approximately 90.0% of their needs were covered by families. Perceived low-income status was a risk factor for unmet healthcare needs, and lack of social support was a risk factor for unmet social care needs. Additionally, not receiving formal education was a protective factor in unmet social care needs. Conclusion: Public health policy should be developed to enable better access to care, especially for the oldest people, considering that nearly one third of the participants in this study had unmet healthcare needs and almost half had unmet social care needs.

Unmet Healthcare Needs among the Elderly Korean Population: Before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the OR for the UHN was 0.47 times significantly higher in the divorced group compared to the cohabitation group. Our findings are similar to those of a study conducted in Malaysia in 2018-2020 [35], Taiwan in 2017 [9], and Turkey in 2017 [4]. This can be attributed to the divorced group facing more financial difficulties than the cohabitation group.…”

“…The prevalence of UHN in the present study is similar to 8.0% of the general population of the European Union in 2018 [33]. In contrast, it is lower than 32.5% of Turkey's elderly population aged 80 years or older in 2018 [4] and higher than 2.8% of Taiwan's elderly population in 2018 [17], 4.4% of the United States elderly population in 2019 [34], and 6.1% of the Malaysian elderly population in 2018-2020 [35]. As indicated, the prevalence of UHN varies from country to country, and that of the Korean elderly population has shown a tendency to decrease gradually in recent years.…”

“…This finding contrasts the result of a Malaysian study in which UHN prevalence was highest in the primary or lower group [35] and is similar to that of a Taiwan study in which UHN prevalence was higher in the elementary or lower group than in the secondary or higher levels group [17]. However, another study in Turkey reported that the education level did not affect the prevalence of UHN [4]. In Korea, individuals with low levels of education are likely to engage in jobs that are physically demanding and are considered more active in health checkups.…”

“…Unmet healthcare needs can be defined as not receiving or delaying the necessary healthcare services despite the needs being perceived by the individual or judged by the medical professional [4][5][6]. Considered a measure of healthcare access, it is the difference between the healthcare services judged necessary and those that are actually received [1,3].…”

“…Most policies for reducing the prevalence of UHN are generally centered on vulnerable populations, including the elderly [4,7,9,15,16]. Previous studies on the elderly population were mainly conducted to identify factors affecting UHN [4,5,[17][18][19][20] and grasp the healthcare needs of older people with chronic diseases and disability [15,17,21]. Prior studies were also conducted on the determinants of inequality in UHN [21][22][23].…”