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Socio-demographic disparities in the utilisation of general practice services for Australian children - Results from
Lixin Ou1,2, Jack Chen1,2, Ken Hillman1,2
1Simpson Centre for Health Services Research, South Western Sydney Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Insights
General practitioner (GP) visits for Australian children decline with age, with disparities influenced by socio-economic factors. Policy interventions are needed to reduce these inequities in GP service utilization.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health Services Research
- Public Health Policy
- Health Economics
Background:
- Understanding patterns in general practitioner (GP) service utilization among Australian children is crucial for equitable healthcare delivery.
- Socio-demographic factors may influence disparities in access to primary care for pediatric populations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the utilization patterns of general practice services for Australian children.
- To examine socio-demographic disparities in general practitioner (GP) visits among Australian children.
Main Methods:
- Utilized linked data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and Medicare Australia claims.
- Employed negative binomial and logistic regression models to analyze socio-demographic factors associated with GP service utilization.
Main Results:
- Annual GP visits decreased with age in both infant and child cohorts.
- Children from non-English speaking backgrounds had more GP visits, while those from higher socio-economic positions, with private health insurance, or in non-metropolitan areas had fewer.
- Parent-rated fair or poor health status correlated with increased GP visits.
Conclusions:
- Significant socio-demographic disparities exist in general practice service utilization for Australian children, varying by age.
- Family socio-economic status, private health insurance, and region of residence are key factors associated with these utilization disparities.
- Policy interventions are recommended to minimize inequities in pediatric GP utilization within Australia.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the pattern of general practice services utilization for Australian children and to examine socio-demographic disparities in general practitioner (GP) visits.
Methods:
We used the linked data from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) and the Medicare Australia claims data record. We used survey negative binomial and logistic regression to examine the socio-demographic factors associated with the utilisation of general practice services.
Results:
The average number of annual GP visits gradually declined from 7.0 at 0-1 year old to 2.4 at 5-8 years (p< .001 for trend) in the infant cohort and from 3.5 at 2-4 years to 2.0 at 9-12 years (p < .001 for trend) in the child cohort. Girls were more likely to visit GPs than boys at 0-1 year old in the infant cohort (RR = 1.06, 95%CI: 1.02-1.11) and at 2-4 years in the child cohort (RR = 1.09, 95%CI: 1.04-1.14), but there were no differences at 2-4 to 5-8 year age periods in the infant cohort and at 5-8 to 9-12 year age period in the child cohort. Children from non-English speaking background were more likely to have a greater number of GP visits compared with their counterparts from English-speaking and Indigenous background up to eight year old in both cohorts (all p < .001). Children from families with the higher socio-economic position, children without private health insurance and children living in non-metropolitan were less likely to have GP consultations in both cohorts. Fair or poor parent-rated health status was associated with greater number of GP visits.
Conclusion:
Socio-demographic disparities existed in the utilisation of general practice services and varied at different age periods. Family socio-economic position, private health insurance coverage and region of residence strongly associates with the utilisation disparities over all age period. Further policy interventions are called to minimise the disparities in GP utilisation for children in Australian context.
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