Locomotion difficulty and need for home care: a cross-sectional study.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Social Determinants of Health

Background:

• Home visits are crucial for individuals with mobility difficulties requiring home care.
• Understanding factors influencing home visit access is vital for equitable healthcare delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate home visits by healthcare professionals for individuals with mobility difficulties and home care needs.
• To identify associated internal and external factors influencing the provision of these home visits.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing data from Cycle III of the National Program for Access and Quality Improvement in Primary Care (2017-2018).
• Analysis of over 140,000 primary healthcare users across 5,312 municipalities.
• Poisson regression used to analyze home visits based on internal and external factors.

Main Results:

• 7.8% of users reported household members with mobility difficulties needing home care; 70% received home visits.
• Home visit prevalence was highest in the Brazilian Northeast.
• Increased social vulnerability was associated with decreased home visits, while higher family health strategy coverage correlated with increased visits.

Conclusions:

• Macrosocial determinants like income and social vulnerability contribute to healthcare inequalities.
• Internal factors, including comprehensive family health coverage and accessible care, improve home visit outcomes.
• Public policies promoting complete family health teams are essential for equitable and comprehensive care.