Becerra Monideepa B, Roland Thomas Charles, Avina Robert M, Becerra Benjamin J
Center for Health Equity, Department of Health Science & Human Ecology, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA.
Center for Health Equity, Department of Information and Decision Sciences, California State University, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA.
Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jul 22;10(8):1360. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10081360.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, college students faced health disparities in addition to a negative burden on academic performance; however, little is reported in the literature regarding healthcare utilization.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among consenting college student participants aged 18 or older from a Hispanic-serving institution. Descriptive and bivariate statistics were used to analyze demographic characteristics and the types of healthcare services needed by such characteristics. Logistic regression was used to adjust for noted sex differences in associations between reporting limited healthcare services and types of healthcare services.
The study population of 223 participants was mostly Hispanic/Latino (65%) and female (73%). Of the population, 11% reported they could not obtain needed healthcare services, with time being reported as the most common reason. Significant associations were found between seeking general healthcare services/routine screening, seeking mental health services, and seeking sexual health services with reporting limited healthcare services, with sex-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of 1.90 (95% CI: 1.08, 3.36), 3.21 (95% CI: 1.44, 4.15), and 2.58 (95% CI: 1.05, 6.35), respectively.
Availability and inability to obtain health services may exacerbate college student health disparities. Targeted interventions are needed in the population to mitigate the potential burdens of unmet healthcare needs, particularly among minority college students.
在新冠疫情期间，大学生除了面临学业成绩的负面影响外，还面临健康差异；然而，文献中关于医疗保健利用情况的报道较少。
对一所西班牙裔服务机构中18岁及以上的同意参与的大学生进行了横断面调查。描述性和双变量统计用于分析人口统计学特征以及这些特征所需要的医疗服务类型。逻辑回归用于调整在报告有限医疗服务与医疗服务类型之间关联中所指出的性别差异。
223名参与者的研究人群主要是西班牙裔/拉丁裔（65%）和女性（73%）。在该人群中，11%的人报告他们无法获得所需的医疗服务，时间被报告为最常见的原因。在寻求一般医疗服务/常规筛查、寻求心理健康服务和寻求性健康服务与报告有限医疗服务之间发现了显著关联，经性别调整的优势比和95%置信区间分别为1.90（95%CI：1.08，3.36）、3.21（95%CI：1.44，4.15）和2.58（95%CI：1.05，6.35）。
医疗服务的可获得性和无法获得医疗服务可能会加剧大学生的健康差异。需要针对该人群采取有针对性的干预措施，以减轻未满足的医疗需求的潜在负担，特别是在少数族裔大学生中。
