The Factors Affecting Unmet Medical Needs of the Elderly Aged more than 65 Years

This study identifies the unmet medical experiences in which the elderly older than 65 years old are not able to utilize appropriate medical service despite the medical need and analyze the factors that affect the unmet medical experiences.

The research used the Community Health Survey. We applied a weight so that this sample represents the Korean elderly older than 65. To test the relationship between the predisposing factors, enabling factors, and need factors of the subjects and their unmet medical experiences, we performed the chi-square test. In addition, we also performed a logistic regression analysis to identify the factors that affect unmet medical experiences. Collected data were analyzed using SAS 9.4 Version.

The results of this study show that a significant number of unmet medical experiences is occurring to an increasing number of elderly persons despite the improvement in the accessibility to medical services and the development of new medical technology. The factors affecting the elderly unmet medical experience are as follows. In the case of women, late-stage elderly, people in the low education level, those without spouses, those who perform financial activities, low-income persons, medical aid beneficiaries were more likely to have unmet medical experience. Also, if subjective health condition is perceived to be bad, those who currently smoke, those who drink, and those who are underweight were more likely to have unmet medical experience.

We anticipate that the results of this study can be used to search for the direction of health and medical service policies for the elderly older than 65 years old in the future.