Talavera-Garza Liza, Ghaddar Suad, Valerio Melissa, Garcia Carolyn
South Texas Border Health Disparities Center, The University of Texas- Pan American in Edinburg, TX 78539, USA.
J Health Care Poor Underserved. 2013 May;24(2):656-70. doi: 10.1353/hpu.2013.0072.
Disparities in health care access, including utilization of preventive health services, are well-documented among ethnic minority populations. This study examines factors associated with health care access and utilization among Hispanic manufacturing employees along the Texas-Mexico border. A cross-sectional survey was administered in 2010 to 228 mostly male (71%) workers. About half of participants (53%) lacked health insurance, which emerged as the most important variable related to health care access and utilization. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, relative to insured workers, uninsured workers were significantly more likely to delay getting medical care (p<.001) and to need medical services that they could not afford (p<.05). They were also less likely to receive a flu vaccine (p<.001). Additionally, uninsured women were less likely to receive screening for cervical cancer compared to insured women (p<.05). Findings support the promotion of employment-based health insurance and education programs stressing the importance of preventive health services.
医疗保健可及性方面的差异，包括预防性健康服务的利用情况，在少数民族群体中已有充分记录。本研究调查了德克萨斯 - 墨西哥边境地区西班牙裔制造业员工中与医疗保健可及性和利用情况相关的因素。2010年对228名主要为男性（71%）的工人进行了横断面调查。约一半的参与者（53%）没有医疗保险，这成为与医疗保健可及性和利用情况相关的最重要变量。在多变量逻辑回归分析中，与有保险的工人相比，无保险的工人显著更有可能推迟就医（p<0.001），并且更有可能需要他们负担不起的医疗服务（p<0.05）。他们也不太可能接种流感疫苗（p<0.001）。此外，与有保险的女性相比，无保险的女性接受宫颈癌筛查的可能性更小（p<0.05）。研究结果支持推广基于就业的医疗保险和强调预防性健康服务重要性的教育项目。
