McHugh Ellen, Connolly Sheelah
Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Ireland.
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Telemed J E Health. 2025 Apr;31(4):468-475. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2024.0503. Epub 2024 Dec 16.
: This research examines the characteristics associated with the use of remote consultations in general practice in Ireland during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. : The analysis uses three waves of a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of health in Ireland ("Healthy Ireland" survey), relating to the years 2020/2021, 2021/2022, and 2022/2023. The sample includes people aged 15 and over who reported seeing a general practitioner (GP) in the 4 weeks prior to the survey. The outcome variable ("remote consultation") captures whether a respondent reported that their most recent GP consultation took place via telephone or video ("remote consultation"). Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the likelihood of having a remote consultation and a range of potential explanatory variables including age, gender, insurance status, and socioeconomic status. : There was a significant decrease in the percentage of respondents reporting remote consultations over the period of analysis, from 39% in 2020/2021 to 10% in 2022/2023. In later periods, being female (odds ratio [OR] = 1.47 [1.04, 2.09]), having private health insurance (OR = 1.76 [1.13, 2.73]), and having a long-term health condition (OR = 1.53 [0.98, 2.39]) were positively associated with the probability of reporting a remote consultation, while being in an older age group (OR = 0.29 [0.13, 0.62]) was negatively associated with the likelihood of a remote consultation. : The high prevalence of remote consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic was not maintained in the postpandemic period. Policymakers should consider the reasons for this and consider the gendered, age-based, and insurance-based disparities in remote consultation utilization in the development and promotion of digital health care.
本研究考察了爱尔兰全科医疗中在新冠疫情期间及之后使用远程会诊的相关特征。分析采用了爱尔兰全国代表性的健康横断面调查的三轮数据（“健康爱尔兰”调查），涉及2020/2021年、2021/2022年和2022/2023年。样本包括15岁及以上且在调查前4周内报告看过全科医生（GP）的人群。结果变量（“远程会诊”）记录了受访者是否报告其最近一次与全科医生的会诊是通过电话或视频进行的（“远程会诊”）。逻辑回归分析用于评估进行远程会诊的可能性与一系列潜在解释变量之间的关系，这些变量包括年龄、性别、保险状况和社会经济地位。在分析期间，报告进行远程会诊的受访者百分比显著下降，从2020/2021年的39%降至2022/2023年的10%。在后期，女性（优势比[OR]=1.47[1.04,2.09]）、拥有私人医疗保险（OR = 1.76[1.13,2.73]）以及患有长期健康状况（OR = 1.53[0.98,2.39]）与报告进行远程会诊的概率呈正相关，而年龄较大（OR = 0.29[0.13,0.62]）与进行远程会诊的可能性呈负相关。新冠疫情期间远程会诊的高普及率在疫情后时期并未持续。政策制定者应考虑其原因，并在数字医疗保健的开发和推广中考虑远程会诊使用方面基于性别、年龄和保险的差异。
