ArticleHealth & social care in the community2019
Self-reported health, healthcare service use and health-related needs: A comparison of older and younger homeless people.
Article in Health & social care in the community, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- A qualitative systematic review on the experiences of homelessness among older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Improving access to healthcare services for people experiencing homelessness: evidence from a scoping review of interventions.Health & justice · 2025Review
- Learning from a multi-agency trauma-informed care training initiative supporting people experiencing homelessness in rural and coastal areas: a qualitative study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Co-Design of a Health Screening Program Fact Sheet by People Experiencing Homelessness and ChatGPT: Focus Group Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Three-year trends and seasonal variation in patient satisfaction with primary health care services in Saudi Arabia: results from the national patient experience measurement program (2022-2024).Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Persistence of a Birth Cohort Effect in the US Among the Adult Homeless Population.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Health Technology Access and Peer Support Among Digitally Engaged People Experiencing Homelessness: Qualitative Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Pre-operative Anemia and Hyponatremia Increase the Risk of Mortality in Elderly Hip Fractures.The archives of bone and joint surgery · 2024Article
- Description of Otolaryngology (OTO) Disease in Houseless Patients on O'ahu, Hawai'i.Hawai'i journal of health & social welfare · 2023Article
- Implementation of a threefold intervention to improve palliative care for persons experiencing homelessness: a process evaluation using the RE-AIM framework.BMC palliative care · 2022Article
- The Health Needs of Regionally Based Individuals Who Experience Homelessness: Perspectives of Service Providers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Lonely, harassed and abandoned in society: the lived experiences of Iranian homeless youth.BMC psychology · 2022Article
- Developing an Embedded Nursing Service within a Homeless Shelter: Client's Perspectives.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- End-of-life care for homeless people in shelter-based nursing care settings: A retrospective record study.Palliative medicine · 2020Article
- Well-Being without a Roof: Examining Well-Being among Unhoused Individuals Using Mixed Methods and Propensity Score Matching.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Self-reported health, healthcare service use and health-related needs: A comparison of older and younger homeless people.Health & social care in the community · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The number of older homeless people with a limited life expectancy is increasing. European studies on their health-related characteristics are lacking. This study compared self-reported health, healthcare service use and health-related needs of older and younger homeless people in the Netherlands. It is part of a cohort study that followed 513 homeless people in the four major Dutch cities for a period of 2.5 years, starting from the moment they registered at the social relief system in 2011. Using cross-sectional data from 378 participants who completed 2.5-year follow-up, we analysed differences in self-reported health, healthcare service use, and health-related needs between homeless adults aged ≥50 years (N = 97) and <50 years (N = 281) by means of logistic regression. Results show that statistically significantly more older than younger homeless people reported cardiovascular diseases (23.7% versus 10.3%), visual problems (26.8% versus 14.6%), limited social support from family (33.0% versus 19.6%) and friends or acquaintances (27.8% versus 14.6%), and medical hospital care use in the past year (50.5% versus 34.5%). Older homeless people statistically significantly less often reported cannabis (12.4% versus 45.2%) and excessive alcohol (16.5% versus 27.0%) use in the past month and dental (20.6% versus 46.6%) and mental (16.5% versus 25.6%) healthcare use in the past year. In both age groups, few people reported unmet health-related needs. In conclusion, compared to younger homeless adults, older homeless adults report fewer substance use problems, but a similar number of dental and mental problems, and more physical and social problems. The multiple health problems experienced by both age groups are not always expressed as needs or addressed by healthcare services. Older homeless people seem to use more medical hospital care and less non-acute, preventive healthcare than younger homeless people. This vulnerable group might benefit from shelter-based or community outreach programmes that proactively provide multidisciplinary healthcare services.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.