Department of Health Policy and Management, Graduate School of Public Health, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Korea Peace Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Front Public Health. 2024 May 10;12:1385951. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1385951. eCollection 2024.
Despite widespread efforts by many countries to reduce the prevalence of unmet healthcare needs within their populations, there remains a scarcity of research systematically exploring the components of these needs.
This study aims to deconstruct subjective unmet healthcare needs into two distinct components: the experience of subjective healthcare needs (the "Needs" component) and the experience of unmet needs contingent on those healthcare needs (the "Unmet" component).
This analysis utilizes data from 13,359 adults aged 19 or older, collected through the 2018 Korea Health Panel survey, with the aim of minimizing the influence of the coronavirus disease 19 pandemic. The two dependent variables are the experience of subjective healthcare needs and whether these needs have been met. The independent variables include 15 socio-demographic, health, and functional characteristics. The study employs both a population proportion analysis and a multivariable bivariate probit model with sample selection.
In South Korea, 11.6% (CI [confidence interval] = 11.0-12.3%) of the population experienced subjective unmet healthcare needs. Upon deconstructing these, 96.7% (CI = 96.2-97.1%) of the population exhibited the Needs component, and 12.0% (CI = 11.4-12.7%) displayed the Unmet component. Each independent variable showed different associations between the two components. Furthermore, effective interventions targeting the characteristics associated with each component could reduce the proportion of the population experiencing subjective unmet healthcare needs from 11.6 to 4.0%.
South Korea faces a significant challenge due to the considerable prevalence of subjective unmet healthcare needs. To address this challenge effectively, the universal healthcare coverage system should adapt its approach based on the characteristics associated with both the Needs and Unmet components of subjective unmet healthcare needs. To achieve this goal, it is highly recommended that the government prioritize strengthening community-based primary healthcare, which currently suffers from insufficient resources.
尽管许多国家都在努力减少其民众未满足的医疗保健需求的普遍性，但仍缺乏系统地探索这些需求构成的研究。
本研究旨在将主观未满足的医疗保健需求解构为两个截然不同的组成部分：主观医疗保健需求的体验（“需求”部分）和这些医疗保健需求所带来的未满足需求的体验（“未满足”部分）。
本分析利用了 2018 年韩国健康小组调查中 13359 名 19 岁或以上成年人的数据，旨在最大程度地减少冠状病毒病 19 大流行的影响。两个因变量是主观医疗保健需求的体验和这些需求是否得到满足。自变量包括 15 个社会人口统计学、健康和功能特征。本研究采用了人口比例分析和具有样本选择的多变量双变量概率模型。
在韩国，有 11.6%（置信区间 [CI] = 11.0-12.3%）的人口经历了主观未满足的医疗保健需求。在对这些需求进行解构后，96.7%（CI = 96.2-97.1%）的人口表现出需求部分，而 12.0%（CI = 11.4-12.7%）表现出未满足部分。每个自变量在两个组成部分之间显示出不同的关联。此外，针对每个组成部分相关特征的有效干预措施可以将经历主观未满足医疗保健需求的人口比例从 11.6%降低到 4.0%。
由于主观未满足的医疗保健需求的相当高的普遍性，韩国面临着重大挑战。为了有效地应对这一挑战，全民医疗保健覆盖系统应该根据主观未满足医疗保健需求的需求和未满足部分的特征来调整其方法。为了实现这一目标，强烈建议政府优先加强目前资源不足的以社区为基础的初级保健。
