Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Forgoing healthcare for economic reasons has been previously associated with adverse health outcomes, including a higher risk of hospitalization, a lower quality of life, and worse self-reported health.
However, the exact cause-to-effect relation between forgoing healthcare and health-related outcomes has been insufficiently described. Using regression models, we explored the baseline determinants of forgoing healthcare, including socioeconomic, demographic, and pre-existing health-risk factors, and examined the associations between forgoing healthcare at baseline and health deterioration at follow-up, using highly pertinent biomarkers glucose, glycated hemoglobin, lipids, blood pressure and SF questionnaire data.
Low income, low occupation, low education, and smoking were associated with higher odds of forgoing healthcare at baseline. For the first time, we show that forgoing healthcare for economic reasons predicts adverse health-related consequences 2—8 years later.
Our findings shall further encourage the implementation of public health measures aimed at identifying individuals who forgo healthcare and preventing the adverse health consequences of unmet medical needs. Forgoing or delaying healthcare is a major public health concern in many countries, including those with a universal healthcare coverage Guessous et al. Previous research has reported that forgoing healthcare occurs for a variety of reasons, including work constraints, family obligations, cultural factors, or personal beliefs Guessous et al.
However, economic reasons were identified as the main determinants of forgoing healthcare, principally due to mandatory co-payments, high out-of-pocket expenses, and other health-related costs, which eventually lead to an inadequate use of healthcare services Guessous et al.
