ArticleBMC health services research2019
An empirical tool for estimating the share of unmet need due to healthcare inefficiencies, suboptimal access, and lack of effective technologies.
Article in BMC health services research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cost of diabetes and hypertension services delivered in primary and secondary-level government facilities in Punjab, India.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Unmet health-related needs in patients with Crohn's disease in Belgium: a mixed-methods study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough there has been growing attention to the measurement of unmet need, which is the overall epidemiological burden of disease, current measures ignore the burden that could be eliminated from technological advances or more effective use of current technologies.
methodsWe developed a conceptual framework and empirical tool that separates unmet need from met need and subcategorizes the causes of unmet need into suboptimal access to and ineffective use of current technologies and lack of current technologies. Statistical models were used to model the relationship between health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) and treatment utilization using data from the National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS). Predicted HR-QOL was combined with prevalence data from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) to estimate met need and the causes of unmet need due to morbidity in the US and EU5 for five diseases: rheumatoid arthritis, breast cancer, Parkinson's disease, hepatitis C, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
resultsHR-QOL was positively correlated with adherence to medication and patient-perceived quality and negatively correlated with financial barriers. Met need was substantial across all disease and regions, although significant unmet need remains. While the majority of unmet need was driven by lack of technologies rather than ineffective use of current technologies, there was considerable variation across diseases and regions. Overall unmet need was largest for COPD, which had the highest prevalence of all diseases in this study.
conclusionWe developed a methodology that can inform decisions about which diseases to invest in and whether those investments should focus on improving access to currently available technologies or inventing new technologies.
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