Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use
Abstract Background Healthcare use is increasing, and health anxiety (HA) is recognized as an important associated factor. Previous research on the association between HA and healthcare use has mostly explored HA as a dichotomous construct, which contrasts the understanding of HA as a continuous con...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5823006 2023-05-15T18:34:59+02:00 Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use Norbye, Anja Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni 2022 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5823006 https://springernature.figshare.com/collections/Health_anxiety_is_an_important_driver_of_healthcare_use/5823006 unknown figshare https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07529-x Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 CC-BY Space Science Medicine Cell Biology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Biological sciences 111714 Mental Health FOS Health sciences article Collection 2022 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5823006 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07529-x 2022-03-10T10:40:39Z Abstract Background Healthcare use is increasing, and health anxiety (HA) is recognized as an important associated factor. Previous research on the association between HA and healthcare use has mostly explored HA as a dichotomous construct, which contrasts the understanding of HA as a continuous construct, and compared healthcare use to non-use. There is a need for studies that examine the association between healthcare use and the continuum of HA in a general population. Aim To explore the association between HA and primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare use and any differences in the association by level of healthcare use. Methods This study used cross-sectional data from the seventh Tromsø study. Eighteen thousand nine hundred sixty-seven participants aged 40 years or older self-reported their primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare use over the past 12 months. Each health service was categorized into 5 groups according to the level of use. The Whiteley Index-6 (WI-6) was used to measure HA on a 5-point Likert scale, with a total score range of 0–24. Analyses were conducted using unconstrained continuation-ratio logistic regression, in which each level of healthcare use was compared with all lower levels. Morbidity, demographics and social variables were included as confounders. Results HA was positively associated with increased utilization of primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare. Adjusting for confounders, including physical and mental morbidity, did not alter the significant association. For primary and somatic specialist healthcare, each one-point increase in WI-6 score yielded a progressively increased odds ratio (OR) of a higher level of use compared to all lower levels. The ORs ranged from 1.06 to 1.15 and 1.05 to 1.14 for primary and somatic specialist healthcare, respectively. For mental specialist healthcare use, the OR was more constant across levels of use, ranging between 1.06 and 1.08. Conclusions In an adult general population, HA, as a continuous construct, was significantly and positively associated with primary, somatic specialist and mental healthcare use. A small increase in HA was associated with progressively increased healthcare use across the three health services, indicating that the impact of HA is more prominent with higher healthcare use. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tromsø DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Tromsø |
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Space Science Medicine Cell Biology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Biological sciences 111714 Mental Health FOS Health sciences |
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Space Science Medicine Cell Biology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Biological sciences 111714 Mental Health FOS Health sciences Norbye, Anja Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
topic_facet |
Space Science Medicine Cell Biology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Biological sciences 111714 Mental Health FOS Health sciences |
description |
Abstract Background Healthcare use is increasing, and health anxiety (HA) is recognized as an important associated factor. Previous research on the association between HA and healthcare use has mostly explored HA as a dichotomous construct, which contrasts the understanding of HA as a continuous construct, and compared healthcare use to non-use. There is a need for studies that examine the association between healthcare use and the continuum of HA in a general population. Aim To explore the association between HA and primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare use and any differences in the association by level of healthcare use. Methods This study used cross-sectional data from the seventh Tromsø study. Eighteen thousand nine hundred sixty-seven participants aged 40 years or older self-reported their primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare use over the past 12 months. Each health service was categorized into 5 groups according to the level of use. The Whiteley Index-6 (WI-6) was used to measure HA on a 5-point Likert scale, with a total score range of 0–24. Analyses were conducted using unconstrained continuation-ratio logistic regression, in which each level of healthcare use was compared with all lower levels. Morbidity, demographics and social variables were included as confounders. Results HA was positively associated with increased utilization of primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare. Adjusting for confounders, including physical and mental morbidity, did not alter the significant association. For primary and somatic specialist healthcare, each one-point increase in WI-6 score yielded a progressively increased odds ratio (OR) of a higher level of use compared to all lower levels. The ORs ranged from 1.06 to 1.15 and 1.05 to 1.14 for primary and somatic specialist healthcare, respectively. For mental specialist healthcare use, the OR was more constant across levels of use, ranging between 1.06 and 1.08. Conclusions In an adult general population, HA, as a continuous construct, was significantly and positively associated with primary, somatic specialist and mental healthcare use. A small increase in HA was associated with progressively increased healthcare use across the three health services, indicating that the impact of HA is more prominent with higher healthcare use. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Norbye, Anja Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni |
author_facet |
Norbye, Anja Davis Abelsen, Birgit Førde, Olav Helge Ringberg, Unni |
author_sort |
Norbye, Anja Davis |
title |
Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
title_short |
Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
title_full |
Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
title_fullStr |
Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
title_full_unstemmed |
Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
title_sort |
health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use |
publisher |
figshare |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5823006 https://springernature.figshare.com/collections/Health_anxiety_is_an_important_driver_of_healthcare_use/5823006 |
geographic |
Tromsø |
geographic_facet |
Tromsø |
genre |
Tromsø |
genre_facet |
Tromsø |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07529-x |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5823006 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07529-x |
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1766220027939258368 |