Publication
Effects of economic recession on elderly patients’ perceptions of access to health care and medicines in Portugal
| dc.contributor.author | Costa, Filipa Alves da | |
| dc.contributor.author | Teixeira, Inês | |
| dc.contributor.author | Duarte-Ramos, Filipa | |
| dc.contributor.author | Proença, Luís | |
| dc.contributor.author | Pedro, Ana Rita | |
| dc.contributor.author | Furtado, Cristina | |
| dc.contributor.author | Silva, José Aranda da | |
| dc.contributor.author | Cabrita, José | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2016-12-20T16:28:13Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2016-12-20T16:28:13Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2016-12 | |
| dc.description.abstract | "Background: In view of the current financial and demographic situation in Portugal, accessibility to health care may be affected, including the ability to adhere to medication. Objective: To evaluate the perceived effects of the crisis on elderly patient’s access to medicines and medical care, and its implications on medicine-taking behaviour. Setting Community pharmacy. Method: A cross-sectional study was undertaken during April 2013, where elderly patients answered a self-administered questionnaire based on their health-related experiences in the current and previous year. Binary logistic regression was used to ascertain the effects of potential predictors on the likelihood of adherence. Main outcome measures self-reported adherence. Results: A total of 1231 questionnaires were collected. 27.3% of patients had stopped using treatments or health services in the previous year for financial motives; mostly private medical appointments, followed by dentist appointments. Almost 30% of patients stopped purchasing prescribed medicines. Over 20% of patients reduced their use of public services. Out-of-pocket expenses with medicines were considered higher in the current year by 40.1% of patients. The most common strategy developed to cope with increasing costs of medicines was generic substitution, but around 15% of patients also stopped taking their medication or started saving by increasing the interdose interval. Conclusion: Reports of decreasing costs with medicines was associated with a decreased likelihood of adherence (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.27–0.65). Lower perceived health status and having 3 or more co-morbidities were associated with lower odds of adhering, whilst less frequent medical appointments was associated with a higher likelihood of exhibiting adherence." | pt_PT |
| dc.description.version | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.citation | da Costa, F.A., Teixeira, I., Duarte-Ramos, F. et al. Int J Clin Pharm (2016). doi:10.1007/s11096-016-0405-3 | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.doi | 10.1007/s11096-016-0405-3 | pt_PT |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2210-7703 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/16966 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | pt_PT |
| dc.peerreviewed | yes | pt_PT |
| dc.publisher | Springer | pt_PT |
| dc.relation.publisherversion | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11096-016-0405-3 | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Access to health care | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Aged | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Equity | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Financial | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Health care rationing | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Health policy | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Medication adherence | pt_PT |
| dc.subject | Portugal | pt_PT |
| dc.title | Effects of economic recession on elderly patients’ perceptions of access to health care and medicines in Portugal | pt_PT |
| dc.type | journal article | |
| dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
| oaire.citation.title | International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy | pt_PT |
| rcaap.embargofct | Política de copyright da revista | pt_PT |
| rcaap.rights | restrictedAccess | pt_PT |
| rcaap.type | article | pt_PT |