| Objective： Describe the characteristics of health services among rural elderly inCentral and West Poor Areas of China from several aspects which were demographiccharacteristics, economic sources, participating in medical insurances, health serviceneeds, utilization of health services and health services satisfaction. Analysis ruralelderly health services utilization status and its influencing factors. Provide theepidemiology basis for better meeting the poverty-stricken areas of rural elderlyhealth services needs.Methods： With multi-stage stratified random sampling methods,1028ruralelderly of84villages from Shanxi, Xinjiang, Gansu and Qinghai were selected asrespondents. Survey the status of health services of the elderly using questionnaires ofhealth services for the rural elderly of China’s Central and Western poor areas. UseEpidata3.2software for data entry and SPSS19.0software for statistical analysis.Results:（1）General conditions: The number of the elderly whose education status wasprimary and elementary schools accounted for82.99%of the total number of olderpersons;59.72%elderly,s total family annual income was under￥3,000;45.04%elderly provided financial resources for themselves or their spouses;94.14%elderlyparticipated in new rural cooperative medical insurance. （2）Accessibility of health services: For45.23%elderly, the most recent medicalunits were Townships; for0.97%elderly, the nearest medical units were CountyHospitals,48.54%respondents thought the distance between their house and thenearest health center was less than1kilometer.33.27%respondents thought the timefrom their house to the nearest health center was under10minutes.（3）Health service needs: The two-week prevalence rate was30.66%amongelderly,63.23%elderly went to the hospital when they were ill,21.94%elderly tookmedicines by themselves.14.84%elderly did not take any measures.53.80%elderlywere diagnosed with chronic diseases. The first three highest prevalence rates ofchronic diseases were hypertension, chronic bronchitis, and heart diseases.（4）Health services utilization: Two-week consultation rate was19.14%,36.30%elderly did not see a doctor when they were ill, annual hospitalization rate was15.04%,22.61%elderly did not go to hospital when they needed. The most frequenthealth center selected by elderly people was the township health center. Theunderlying reasons were its short distance and its medical reimbursement. The majorreasons about elderly people who did not go to doctor or did not go to the hospitalwere the financial difficulty and their easy symptoms.（5）Health service satisfaction:91.15%elderly people were satisfaction aboutthe health service.8.85%elderly people were dissatisfaction and the major reasonswere less service items and longer distance between their house and the health center.The protective factors about the satisfaction degree of health service: the highereducation level, the higher income level, the nearer distance between their house andthe health center.（6） The influencing factors about the utilization of health service: The riskfactors of two-week visiting rate were female, farmer, enduring chronic disease,eligible for social relief, a nearer distance between their house and the health center.The risk factors of hospitalization rates were the higher education level, enduringchronic disease, the income from themselves and their offspring and a nearer distance between their house and the city health center.Conclusions: The accessibility of health service was poor among rural elderly inChina’s Central and West poor areas, the health service needs were high and healthservice utilization was low. Effective measures should be taken to improve the ruralelderly health services utilization status, by improving the construction of grass-rootshealth institutions, strengthening health education, prevention and control of chronicdiseases and improving the system of medical insurance and so on to achieve the goalof healthy aging. |
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