Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey
Background: From 1970 to 2010, the Alaskan population increased from 302,583 to 698,473. During that time, the growth rate of Alaskan seniors (65+) was 4 times higher than their national counterparts. Ageing in Alaska requires confronting unique environmental, sociodemographic and infrastructural ch...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:57df513f90df43bbbf0f83454e20bf64 2023-05-15T15:11:13+02:00 Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey Julia D. Foutz Steven A. Cohen Sarah K. Cook 2016-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.30348 https://doaj.org/article/57df513f90df43bbbf0f83454e20bf64 EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/30348/pdf_75 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v75.30348 https://doaj.org/article/57df513f90df43bbbf0f83454e20bf64 International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 75, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2016) older adults health care Alaska Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.30348 2022-12-31T12:17:26Z Background: From 1970 to 2010, the Alaskan population increased from 302,583 to 698,473. During that time, the growth rate of Alaskan seniors (65+) was 4 times higher than their national counterparts. Ageing in Alaska requires confronting unique environmental, sociodemographic and infrastructural challenges, including an extreme climate, geographical isolation and less developed health care infrastructure compared to the continental US. Objective: The objective of this analysis is to compare the health needs of Alaskan seniors to those in the continental US. Design: We abstracted 315,161 records of individuals age 65+ from the 2013 and 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, of which 1,852 were residents of Alaska. To compare residents of Alaska to residents of the 48 contiguous states we used generalized linear models which allowed us to adjust for demographic differences and survey weighting procedures. We examined 3 primary outcomes – general health status, health care coverage status and length of time since last routine check-up. Results: Alaskan seniors were 59% less likely to have had a routine check-up in the past year and 12% less likely to report excellent health status than comparable seniors in the contiguous US. Conclusions: Given the growth rate of Alaskan seniors and inherent health care challenges this vulnerable population faces, future research should examine the specific pathways through which these disparities occur and inform policies to ensure that all US seniors, regardless of geographical location, have access to high-quality health services. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic International Journal of Circumpolar Health 75 1 30348 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
older adults health care Alaska Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
spellingShingle |
older adults health care Alaska Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Julia D. Foutz Steven A. Cohen Sarah K. Cook Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey |
topic_facet |
older adults health care Alaska Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Background: From 1970 to 2010, the Alaskan population increased from 302,583 to 698,473. During that time, the growth rate of Alaskan seniors (65+) was 4 times higher than their national counterparts. Ageing in Alaska requires confronting unique environmental, sociodemographic and infrastructural challenges, including an extreme climate, geographical isolation and less developed health care infrastructure compared to the continental US. Objective: The objective of this analysis is to compare the health needs of Alaskan seniors to those in the continental US. Design: We abstracted 315,161 records of individuals age 65+ from the 2013 and 2014 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, of which 1,852 were residents of Alaska. To compare residents of Alaska to residents of the 48 contiguous states we used generalized linear models which allowed us to adjust for demographic differences and survey weighting procedures. We examined 3 primary outcomes – general health status, health care coverage status and length of time since last routine check-up. Results: Alaskan seniors were 59% less likely to have had a routine check-up in the past year and 12% less likely to report excellent health status than comparable seniors in the contiguous US. Conclusions: Given the growth rate of Alaskan seniors and inherent health care challenges this vulnerable population faces, future research should examine the specific pathways through which these disparities occur and inform policies to ensure that all US seniors, regardless of geographical location, have access to high-quality health services. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Julia D. Foutz Steven A. Cohen Sarah K. Cook |
author_facet |
Julia D. Foutz Steven A. Cohen Sarah K. Cook |
author_sort |
Julia D. Foutz |
title |
Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey |
title_short |
Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey |
title_full |
Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey |
title_fullStr |
Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey |
title_full_unstemmed |
Challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of Alaska: evidence from a national survey |
title_sort |
challenges and barriers to health care and overall health in older residents of alaska: evidence from a national survey |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.30348 https://doaj.org/article/57df513f90df43bbbf0f83454e20bf64 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health Alaska |
op_source |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 75, Iss 0, Pp 1-6 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/view/30348/pdf_75 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v75.30348 https://doaj.org/article/57df513f90df43bbbf0f83454e20bf64 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v75.30348 |
container_title |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
container_volume |
75 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
30348 |
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1766342110877843456 |