The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals
Background. Our aim was to investigate the pattern of self reported symptoms and utilisation of health care services in Norway. Design and methods. With data from the cross-sectional Tromsø Study (2007-8), we estimated population proportions reporting symptoms and use of seven different health servi...
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PAGEPress Scientific Publications, Pavia, Italy
2012
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ftjphr:oai:ojs.www.jphres.org:article/85 2023-05-15T18:34:46+02:00 The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals Hansen, Anne Helen Halvorsen, Peder A. Førde, Olav Helge 2012-07-31 application/pdf application/xml https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28 https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2012.e28 eng eng PAGEPress Scientific Publications, Pavia, Italy https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28/pdf https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28/64 https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28 doi:10.4081/jphr.2012.e28 Copyright (c) 2012 Anne Helen Hansen, Peder A. Halvorsen, Olav Helge Førde https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 CC-BY-NC Journal of Public Health Research; Vol 1 No 2 (2012); e28 2279-9036 2279-9028 cross-sectional study health care utilisation general practitioner specialist hospitalisation info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2012 ftjphr https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2012.e28 2021-02-08T18:31:24Z Background. Our aim was to investigate the pattern of self reported symptoms and utilisation of health care services in Norway. Design and methods. With data from the cross-sectional Tromsø Study (2007-8), we estimated population proportions reporting symptoms and use of seven different health services. By logistic regression we estimated differences according to age and gender. Results. 12,982 persons aged 30-87 years participated, 65.7% of those invited. More than 900/1000 reported symptoms or health problems in a year as well as in a month, and 214/1000 and 816/1000 visited a general practitioner once or more in a month and a year, respectively. The corresponding figures were 91/1000 and 421/1000 for specialist outpatient visits, and 14/1000 and 116/1000 for hospitalisations. Physiotherapists were visited by 210/1000, chiropractors by 76/1000, complementary and alternative medical providers by 127/1000, and dentists by 692/1000 in a year. Women used most health care services more than men, but genders used hospitalisations and chiropractors equally. Utilisation of all services increased with age, except chiropractors, dentists and complementary and alternative medical providers. Conclusions. Almost the entire population reported health related problems during the previous year, and most residents visited a general practitioner. Yet there were high rates of inpatient and outpatient specialist utilisation. We suggest that wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of specialist care and hospitals. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tromsø Journal of Public Health Research (PAGEPress Publications) Norway Tromsø Journal of Public Health Research 1 2 28 |
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Open Polar |
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Journal of Public Health Research (PAGEPress Publications) |
op_collection_id |
ftjphr |
language |
English |
topic |
cross-sectional study health care utilisation general practitioner specialist hospitalisation |
spellingShingle |
cross-sectional study health care utilisation general practitioner specialist hospitalisation Hansen, Anne Helen Halvorsen, Peder A. Førde, Olav Helge The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
topic_facet |
cross-sectional study health care utilisation general practitioner specialist hospitalisation |
description |
Background. Our aim was to investigate the pattern of self reported symptoms and utilisation of health care services in Norway. Design and methods. With data from the cross-sectional Tromsø Study (2007-8), we estimated population proportions reporting symptoms and use of seven different health services. By logistic regression we estimated differences according to age and gender. Results. 12,982 persons aged 30-87 years participated, 65.7% of those invited. More than 900/1000 reported symptoms or health problems in a year as well as in a month, and 214/1000 and 816/1000 visited a general practitioner once or more in a month and a year, respectively. The corresponding figures were 91/1000 and 421/1000 for specialist outpatient visits, and 14/1000 and 116/1000 for hospitalisations. Physiotherapists were visited by 210/1000, chiropractors by 76/1000, complementary and alternative medical providers by 127/1000, and dentists by 692/1000 in a year. Women used most health care services more than men, but genders used hospitalisations and chiropractors equally. Utilisation of all services increased with age, except chiropractors, dentists and complementary and alternative medical providers. Conclusions. Almost the entire population reported health related problems during the previous year, and most residents visited a general practitioner. Yet there were high rates of inpatient and outpatient specialist utilisation. We suggest that wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of specialist care and hospitals. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen, Anne Helen Halvorsen, Peder A. Førde, Olav Helge |
author_facet |
Hansen, Anne Helen Halvorsen, Peder A. Førde, Olav Helge |
author_sort |
Hansen, Anne Helen |
title |
The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
title_short |
The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
title_full |
The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
title_fullStr |
The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
title_full_unstemmed |
The ecology of medical care in Norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
title_sort |
ecology of medical care in norway: wide use of general practitioners may not necessarily keep patients out of hospitals |
publisher |
PAGEPress Scientific Publications, Pavia, Italy |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28 https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2012.e28 |
geographic |
Norway Tromsø |
geographic_facet |
Norway Tromsø |
genre |
Tromsø |
genre_facet |
Tromsø |
op_source |
Journal of Public Health Research; Vol 1 No 2 (2012); e28 2279-9036 2279-9028 |
op_relation |
https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28/pdf https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28/64 https://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/jphr.2012.e28 doi:10.4081/jphr.2012.e28 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2012 Anne Helen Hansen, Peder A. Halvorsen, Olav Helge Førde https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4081/jphr.2012.e28 |
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Journal of Public Health Research |
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1 |
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2 |
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28 |
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1766219680642498560 |