Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ni, Bin
• Gettler, Erin
• Stern, Rebecca
• Munro, Heather M.
• Steinwandel, Mark
• Aldrich, Melinda C.
• Friedman, Debra L.
• Sanderson, Maureen
• Schlundt, David
• Aronoff, David M.
• Gupta, Deepak K.
• Shrubsole, Martha J.
• Lipworth, Loren

Titel

Disruption of Medical Care among Individuals in the Southeastern United States during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Ist Teil von

• Journal of public health research, 2021-09, Vol.11 (1), p.jphr.2021.2497

Ort / Verlag

PAGEPress Publications, Pavia, Italy

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Background Widespread disruptions of medical care to mitigate COVID-19 spread and reduce burden on healthcare systems may have deleterious public health consequences. Design and methods To examine factors contributing to healthcare interruptions during the pandemic, we conducted a COVID-19 impact survey between 10/7-12/14/2020 among participants of the Southern Community Cohort Study, which primarily enrolled lowincome individuals in 12 southeastern states from 2002-2009. COVID survey data were combined with baseline and follow-up data. Results Among 4463 respondents, 40% reported having missed/delayed a health appointment during the pandemic; the common reason was provider-initiated cancellation or delay (63%). In a multivariable model, female sex was the strongest independent predictor of interrupted care, with odds ratio (OR) 1.63 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.40-1.89). Those with higher education (OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.05-1.54 for college graduate vs ≤high school) and household income (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.16-1.86 for >$50,000 vs <$15,000) were at significantly increased odds of missing healthcare. Having greater perceived risk for acquiring (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.17-1.72) or dying from COVID-19 (OR 1.25; 95% CI 1.04-1.51) also significantly increased odds of missed/delayed healthcare. Age was inversely associated with missed healthcare among men (OR for 5-year increase in age 0.88; 95% CI 0.80-0.96) but not women (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.91-1.04; P-interaction=0.04). Neither race/ethnicity nor comorbidities were associated with interrupted healthcare. Conclusions Disruptions to healthcare disproportionately affected women and were primarily driven by health system-initiated deferrals and individual perceptions of COVID-19 risk, rather than medical co-morbidities or other traditional barriers to healthcare access.