Department of Economics, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Can J Aging. 2010 Mar;29(1):23-37. doi: 10.1017/S0714980809990389.
The rising cost of health care and changing demographic profiles have resulted in the relocation and redistribution of funding and services between rural and urban areas. Most econometric analyses of Canada's health service use include broad controls by province and rural/urban status, but relatively little econometric work has focused on geographical variation in health service use. Using the Canadian Community Health Survey 2.1, we examined determinants of various measures of health services use by Canadians aged 55 or older across a range of urban and rural areas of residence. Our regression analysis showed that older residents in rural areas made fewer visits to a general practitioner, to a specialist, and to a dentist relative to urban residents. All else being equal, there are no significant differences in hospital nights or in unmet healthcare needs. These differences are significant after controlling for demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, private health insurance, and health status.
医疗保健成本的上升和人口结构的变化导致了农村和城市地区之间资金和服务的重新配置和再分配。加拿大卫生服务利用的大多数计量经济学分析都包括按省份和农村/城市地位进行广泛控制，但相对较少的计量经济学工作集中在卫生服务利用的地理差异上。利用加拿大社区健康调查 2.1，我们考察了居住在一系列农村和城市地区的 55 岁或以上的加拿大人各种卫生服务使用措施的决定因素。我们的回归分析表明，与城市居民相比，农村地区的老年居民看全科医生、专科医生和牙医的次数较少。在其他条件相同的情况下，住院天数或未满足的医疗保健需求没有显著差异。在控制人口特征、社会经济地位、私人医疗保险和健康状况后，这些差异仍然显著。
