ArticleInternational journal for equity in health2024
Inequity in access to digital public primary healthcare in Sweden: a cross-sectional study of the effects of urbanicity and socioeconomic status on utilization.
Article in International journal for equity in health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Digital clinic users in Finnish public primary care: their characteristics, reasons for visits, and equity considerations - a register study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Observational
- Reported time savings and telephone consultation use in polish primary care: a national random sample survey.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Patients' Experiences With Using a Digital Platform for Chat-Based Consultation in Primary Health Care in Sweden: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Article
- Differences in use of telemedicine integrated into traditional primary health care - a comparative observational study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Observational
- The effect of socioeconomic status on postpartum depression: a parallel mediation model.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial and geographical inequity in access to primary healthcare is an ongoing concern in Sweden. Digital care can potentially decrease geographical inequity. This study aimed to evaluate how urbanicity affects the utilization of a public digital primary healthcare service - PHC Online.
methodsWe performed an ecological cross-sectional study of 4,482 PHC Online visits grouped by 83 public primary healthcare centers. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed with PHC Online visits per 1,000 registered patients as the dependent variable and urbanicity (municipalities grouped by number of inhabitants), socioeconomic status (Care Need Index), and morbidity (Adjusted Clinical Groups) per primary healthcare center as independent variables.
resultsUtilization of PHC Online was more common among those of a younger age (median 32 years) and among women (65%). Urbanicity did not affect utilization. Lower socioeconomic status and higher morbidity had negative effects on utilization (B -3.289, p = 0.001, B -7.728, p = 0.045).
conclusionsGeographical differences based on urbanicity do not seem to affect the utilization of PHC Online. Further studies are needed to clarify a possible association to geographical barriers in access to primary healthcare, specifically accounting for factors associated with urbanicity and distance to physical clinics, and how age and sex affect such an association. Lower utilization of PHC Online in low socioeconomic status and high morbidity populations raises questions on the effect of digital primary care on equitable access to primary healthcare.
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