Association between chronic conditions and perceived unmet health care needs

Although effective treatments exist, many Canadians with chronic medical conditions do not receive the full care they require, possibly as a consequence of limited accessibility or availability. A commonly used indicator of inadequate access to or availability of care is the perception of unmet health care needs. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the association between chronic conditions and perceived unmet health care needs.

We extracted data for adult respondents from the combined 2001, 2003 and 2005 cross-sectional cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the association between 7 high-prevalence and high-impact chronic conditions (arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/emphysema, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, mood disorder and stroke) and perceived unmet health care needs in the prior 12 months, adjusting for sociodemographic variables, health behaviours, health status and survey cycle.

Of the 360 105 adult respondents, 12.2% reported an unmet health care need. Compared with those without chronic conditions, respondents with at least one condition were more likely to report an unmet need (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.51, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45-1.59). Those with mood disorders were almost twice as likely to report an unmet need (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.78-2.12), while those with diabetes or hypertension were less likely to report an unmet need (diabetes OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.76-0.94; hypertension OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.89-1.04). Furthermore, the likelihood of an unmet need increased with the number of chronic conditions (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.56-1.88 for 3 or more conditions). Respondents with chronic conditions were more likely than those without to report an unmet need related to resource availability (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.06-1.22).

Adults with chronic medical conditions are more likely to report an unmet health care need, and the likelihood increases with an increasing number of conditions. Whether these unmet needs are associated with worse outcomes, and whether interventions targeted to address these needs may improve outcomes for Canadians with chronic disease, remain to be determined.