Social and family-related correlates of medical care utilization by asthmatic children in Upper Silesia, Poland
Journal Title: Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine - Year 2012, Vol 19, Issue 1
Abstract
Background: Studies on childhood asthma demonstrate socioeconomic disparities in medical care utilization. A lack of information for Poland prompted our investigation into this question. Its goal was to discover if the utilization of medical services by asthmatic children depends on social and family factors.Methods: Subjects were 186 children with physician-diagnosed asthma, identified through a questionnaire survey of 4,535 school children in Katowice District, Poland. Utilization of medical care was assessed by such past year events as medical visits (44.0%), any diagnostic test (35.4%) and spirometry (30.6%). Association of those events with socioeconomic variables was explored by means of logistic regression, according to the criterion p< 0.1.Results: After adjustment for disease severity and gender medical visits were related to younger age (p=0.009), family history of respiratory diseases (p=0.08) and rural residence (p=0.09), any diagnostic tests to younger age (p=0.08), smaller number of siblings (p=0.01) and rural residence (p=0.004); spirometry to smaller number of siblings (p=0.09) and rural residence (p=0.006).Conclusion: Clinical status and age are important determinants of utilization of medical services by asthmatic children. The effects of rural residence and family size may reflect a more attentive response to the needs of a sick child.
Authors and Affiliations
Jan E. Zejda, Grzegorz M. Brożek, Małgorzata Farnik, Irena Smółka
The use of oncolytic viruses in selected tumours
Introduction: Neoplastic diseases are the leading cause of death among adults. Despite significant advances in pharmacotherapy, advanced radiotherapy and high level of oncology surgery still the effects of a treatment ar...
Exposure to environmental factors and relationship to allergic rhinitis and/or sthma
Introduction and objectives. Studies analyzing risk factors, multiple indoor and outdoor factors related to asthma and/or allergic rhinitis (AR) in childhood, are very rare. The presented study was carried out to simulta...
Quality of life in peri- and post-menopausal Polish women living in Lublin Province - differences between urban and rural dwellers
Introduction and objective: The quality of life in peri- and post-menopausal women constitutes a serious public health problem. The aim of this observational cross-sectional study was to reveal the influence of the perma...
Genotypic diversity of Legionella pneumophila in environmental and clinical strains assessed by Sequence-Based Typing, in association with retrospective clinical surveillance in Northern Italy
[b]Objective.[/b] The study aimed to evidence previous cases of legionellosis or proven or suspected pneumonia in seven hospital facilities for the mentally disabled in Northern Italy, where no clinical surveillance had...
Psychosocial generalised resistance resources and clinical indicators of patients suffering from Osteoarthritis at the Institute of Rural Health in Lublin, Poland
Objective. The aim of the study was investigation of the correlations between medical indicators of the course of illness and psychological factors, treated as generalised resistance resources, according to the Salutogen...