Disabilities and medical emergencies: a population-based study in Peru.

Objective: To estimate the association between disability and the demand for medical emergency care by citizens of Peru over the age of 18 years in 2019.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of secondary data from the national survey of budgeted programs (ENAPRES, in its Peruvian abbreviation) of 2019. Disabilities were surveyed based on the criteria of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. Medical emergencies were queried using 2 questions referring to life-threatening situations. Sociodemographic covariables and variables related to certain medical emergencies were also analyzed as possible confounders. Poisson regression analysis was carried out and crude and adjusted prevalence ratios calculated. Calculations were performed on a complex sample of data from the ENAPRES 2019 survey.

Results: Data for 62 959 persons over the age of 18 years were included. Some type of disability was reported by 4.3% of the sample, and 8.7% reported a medical emergency during the past year. Persons with 3 or more disabilities were 2.97-fold more likely to have a medical emergency than persons without disabilities (prevalence ratio, 2.97 (95% CI, 2.28-3.87) after adjustment for multiple confounding variables.

Conclusions: Disabled persons were more likely to have medical emergencies than persons without disabilities in Peru in 2019. The likelihood of medical emergencies was slightly higher in those with 3 or more disabilities.