Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38992648›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2024

Specialist care visits outside the hospital by South Australian older adults.

Dennis Asante, Williams Agyemang-Duah, Paul Worley, Gloria Essilfie, Vivian Isaac

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Dennis AsanteCollege of Medicine & Public Health, Rural and Remote Health, Flinders University, Renmark, South Australia.
Williams Agyemang-DuahDepartment of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada.
Paul WorleyRiverland Mallee Coorong Local Health Network, SA Health, Government of South Australia, Berri, South Australia.
Gloria EssilfieDepartment of Applied Economics, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana. gloria.essilfie@ucc.edu.gh.
Vivian IsaacCollege of Medicine & Public Health, Rural and Remote Health, Flinders University, Renmark, South Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLimited access to specialist medical services is a major barrier to healthcare in rural areas. We compared rural-urban specialist doctor consultations outside hospital by older adults (≥ 60 years) across South Australia.

methodsCross-sectional data were available from the South Australia's Department of Health. The Modified Monash Model (MM1-7) of remoteness was used to categorize data into rural (MM 3-4), remote (MM5-7), and urban (MM1-MM2) of participants in urban and non-urban South Australia. The analysis was conducted on older adults (n = 20,522), self-reporting chronic physical and common mental health conditions.

resultsSpecialist doctor consultation in the past 4 weeks was 14.6% in our sample. In multivariable analysis, increasing age (odds ratio 1.3, 95% CI: 1.2-1.4), higher education (odds ratio 1.5, 95% CI: 1.3-1.9), physical health conditions [diabetes (odds ratio 1.2, 95% CI: 1.1-1.3); cancer (odds ratio1.8, 95% CI: 1.7-2.0); heart disease (odds ratio 1.9, 95% CI: 1.6-2.1)], and common mental disorders [depression (odds ratio 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1-1.5); anxiety (odds ratio 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1-1.6)] were associated with higher specialist care use. Specialist care use among rural (odds ratio 0.8, 95% CI: 0.6-0.9), and remote (odds ratio 0.8, 95% CI: 0.7-0.9) older people was significantly lower than their urban counterparts after controlling for age, education, and chronic disease.

conclusionOur findings demonstrate a disparity in the use of out of hospital specialist medical services between urban and non-urban areas.

Indexed as

SpecializationAgedAged, 80 and overChronic DiseaseCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHealth Services AccessibilityHumansMaleMedicineMiddle AgedReferral and ConsultationRural Health ServicesSouth AustraliaChronic conditionsOlder adultsRural health servicesSpecialist health services

Identifiers

PMID38992648
PMCPMC11241794

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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.