ArticleBMC health services research2012
Socioeconomic differences in waiting times for elective surgery: a population-based retrospective study.
Article in BMC health services research, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- MRI Waiting Time Disparities in Saudi Public Hospitals: A Six-Year Retrospective Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Ethical aspects of waiting lists in neurosurgery.Acta neurochirurgica · 2026Review
- Waiting for HoLEP-outcomes when complications arise in the preoperative period.World journal of urology · 2025Article
- Aggregation Bias and Socioeconomic Gradients in Waiting Time for Hospital Admissions.Health economics · 2025Article
- Attributing practice variation by its sources: the case of varicose veins treatments in the Netherlands.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Race and sex demographics in the surgical management of facial nerve palsy.Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2023Article
- The impact of deprivation on patients awaiting planned care.Bone & joint open · 2022Article
- Systematic Review: Impact of Social Determinants of Health on the Management and Prognosis of Gallstone Disease.Health equity · 2022Review
- Socioeconomic Status and Waiting Times for Health Services: Current Evidences and Next Area of Research.Health services insights · 2019Article
- Inequalities in waiting times by socioeconomic status.Israel journal of health policy research · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWidespread literature on inequity in healthcare access and utilization has been published, but research on socioeconomic differences in waiting times is sparse and the evidence is fragmentary and controversial. The objective of the present study is the analysis of the relationship between individual socioeconomic level and waiting times for in-hospital elective surgery.
methodsWe retrospectively studied the waiting times experienced by patients registered on hospital waiting lists for 6 important surgical procedures by using the Hospital Discharge Database (HDD) of the Piedmont Region (4,000,000 inhabitants in the North West of Italy) from 2006 to 2008. The surgical procedures analyzed were: coronary artery by-pass (CABG), angioplasty, coronarography, endarterectomy, hip replacement and cholecystectomy. Cox regression models were estimated to study the relationship between waiting times and educational level taking into account the confounding effect of the following factors: sex, age, comorbidity, registration period, and Local Health Authorities (LHA) as a proxy of supply.
resultsMedian waiting times for low educational level were higher than for high educational level for all the selected procedures. Differences were particularly high for endarterectomy and hip replacement. For all considered procedures, except CABG, an inverse gradient between waiting times and educational level was observed: the conditional probabilities of undergoing surgery were lower among individuals with a low to middle level education than for individuals with a higher level of education after adjustment for sex, age, comorbidities, registration period, and LHAs. For most procedures the effect decreases over the follow up period.
conclusionsThe results of the study show evidence of inequalities in access to elective surgery in Italy. Implementation of policies aimed to promote national information initiatives that guarantee wider access to those with low socio-economic status is strongly recommended.
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