Factors associated with difficulty in accessing healthcare services among older adults: National Health Survey, 2019

The objective was to analyze the factors associated with difficulty in accessing healthcare services among older population. This is a cross-sectional, analytical study using data from the 2019 National Health Survey, conducted between 2019 and 2020 with a random sample of 22,728 older adults. The outcome was the difficulty in accessing healthcare services, measured by seeking services but not being attended to, or when services were not sought despite a need due to individual difficulties. The exposures were sociodemographic characteristics, health insurance coverage, health conditions, and functional disability. Multiple logistic regression was employed, considering a 5% significance level. Stata 17 was used for the analysis. The majority of older adults were female, aged between 60 and 69 years. The prevalence of difficulty in accessing services was 13.7% (95%CI: 13.0-14.5). Being female, living in urban areas, having a cerebrovascular accident, pulmonary disease and/or chronic back pain, having fair, poor, or very poor health status, and disability in performing basic activities of daily living (BADLs) were associated with a higher likelihood of difficulty in accessing healthcare services.