Perceptions of healthcare access among Lithuanians aged 65 and over during the COVID-19 pandemic.

IF 3.4 3区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH Frontiers in Public Health Pub Date : 2025-03-04 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1504049

Vytenis Kalibatas, Snieguole Kaseliene, Ramune Kalediene, Olga Mesceriakova, Skirmante Sauliune

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Abstract

Aim: This study investigates the perceived accessibility of healthcare services among older adults in Lithuania during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is significant as it sheds light on geographical, organizational, and financial healthcare access issues encountered by the older population.

Methods: Conducted in January 2024, the study involved an anonymous questionnaire survey of 1,503 Lithuanian residents aged 65 and older.

Results: The most frequently utilized healthcare services were consultations with a general practitioner (75.4%) 22.0% of respondents reported not receiving any healthcare services. 53.5% respondents were satisfied with travel time to specialists. Common challenges included difficulties in getting appointments with specialists (53.9%) and dentists (36.2%). Financial barriers led to unmet healthcare needs: 12.6% of the respondents did not receive needed services, 12.8% did not undergo recommended tests, and 14.2% did not purchase prescribed medications. Healthcare services were less accessible to elders with lower education, lower incomes, and those who self-rated health poorly (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Most respondents received the healthcare they needed during the pandemic and rated geographical access positively. However, some problems in organizational and financial access were disclosed. The observed social gradient indicates that socioeconomic factors significantly influence healthcare access, potentially increasing vulnerability among certain groups.

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在COVID-19大流行期间，65岁及以上立陶宛人对医疗保健获取的看法。

目的：本研究调查了立陶宛老年人在COVID-19大流行期间对医疗服务可及性的感知。这项研究意义重大，因为它揭示了老年人在地理、组织和财务上获得医疗保健的问题。方法：该研究于2024年1月进行，对1503名65岁及以上的立陶宛居民进行了匿名问卷调查。结果：最常使用的保健服务是向全科医生咨询（75.4%），22.0%的受访者表示没有接受任何保健服务。53.5%的受访者对去看专家的路途时间感到满意。常见的挑战包括难以预约专科医生（53.9%）和牙医（36.2%）。经济障碍导致医疗保健需求得不到满足：12.6%的受访者没有得到所需的服务，12.8%的人没有接受建议的检查，14.2%的人没有购买处方药。受教育程度较低、收入较低以及自认为健康状况较差的老年人获得医疗保健服务的机会较少（p ）。结论：大多数受访者在大流行期间获得了所需的医疗保健服务，并对地理上的可及性给予了积极评价。然而，在组织和财务准入方面也存在一些问题。观察到的社会梯度表明，社会经济因素显著影响医疗保健获取，可能增加某些群体的脆弱性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Public Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

7.70%

发文量

4469

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Public Health is a multidisciplinary open-access journal which publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research and is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians, policy makers and the public worldwide. The journal aims at overcoming current fragmentation in research and publication, promoting consistency in pursuing relevant scientific themes, and supporting finding dissemination and translation into practice. Frontiers in Public Health is organized into Specialty Sections that cover different areas of research in the field. Please refer to the author guidelines for details on article types and the submission process.