Smith S L, Colenda C C
University of Minnesota, USA.
Int J Psychiatry Med. 1997;27(1):23-32. doi: 10.2190/WU2A-RTV9-G3V4-Q5V4.
This study examines the effect of mental health factors on health care utilization in a group of community dwelling elderly subjects followed in a primary care setting.
Data on utilization was obtained prospectively from computerized billing records for a one-year period following completion of a structured survey. Relationships between variables were characterized by Spearman's rank correlation. Multivariate linear regression modeling was employed to relate health care utilization, as measured by total cost, to the baseline variables.
No significant relationship was found between mental health measures and health care utilization as measured by total costs in this elderly population. However, total costs were found to be related to medical comorbidity and total daily medication use.
The present study did not find the relationship of psychiatric distress and increased use of health care services to apply to a group of community dwelling elderly. Future research will need to focus on larger data sets and improvement of models that attempt to examine the relationships between mental health and health care utilization in the elderly.
本研究探讨心理健康因素对一组在初级保健机构接受随访的社区居住老年受试者医疗服务利用情况的影响。
在完成结构化调查后的一年时间里，前瞻性地从计算机化计费记录中获取利用情况数据。变量之间的关系通过斯皮尔曼等级相关性来表征。采用多元线性回归模型，将以总成本衡量的医疗服务利用情况与基线变量相关联。
在该老年人群体中，未发现心理健康指标与以总成本衡量的医疗服务利用情况之间存在显著关系。然而，发现总成本与医疗合并症和每日药物总使用量有关。
本研究未发现精神困扰与医疗服务使用增加之间的关系适用于一组社区居住的老年人。未来的研究需要关注更大的数据集，并改进试图研究老年人心理健康与医疗服务利用之间关系的模型。
