【最新學術文章】雖然香港政府的官方醫療政策是「確保市民不會因經濟困難而無法獲得適當的醫療服務」，我們的研究發現8.4%的受訪者因缺乏經濟能力而未在過去一年中尋求醫療服務！
標題：貧窮、患病、殘疾人士在香港獲取醫療服務的過程中，有甚麼經濟障礙呢？
摘要
雖然香港是世界上最富裕的城市之一，並擁有一些全球最佳的健康結果，如最長預期壽命，但目前對於因缺乏經濟能力而無法獲取醫療服務的人知之甚少。從第一波「香港貧窮與社會弱勢的趨勢及影響」問卷調查中，我們收集了2,233名18歲或以上參加者的橫斷面數據，並利用前向逐步邏輯回歸分析，評估了社會人口因素、生活模式、以及生理和心理健康，與因為缺乏經濟能力而無法獲取醫療服務的相關性。在2,233名受訪者當中，8.4%因缺乏經濟能力而未在過去一年中尋求醫療服務，而且這些人較大機會是貧窮人士。在生理和心理健康方面，與香港普遍人群相比，儘管他們患有多重病症的可能性較小，但他們的焦慮和壓力水平都較高，生理和心理健康相關的生活質素也較差，並且患有更嚴重的殘疾和的疼痛症狀，影響日常活動。因經濟障礙而無法獲取醫療服務的人士比香港普遍人士的生理和心理健康較差，這意味著一些有更大醫療需要的人士在接受及時和適當的醫療服務可能面對更大的經濟困難，這些研究結果顯示了香港面對醫療服務獲取不公的問題。
【New Academic Publication】Prof Samuel Wong and I along with the HK Poverty, Deprivation and Health Inequality Team has just published our new findings in Plos One -- 8.4% of people in HK did not seek medical care due to lack of financial means!!
Title: What are the financial barriers to medical care among the poor, the sick and the disabled in the Special Administrative Region of China?
Abstract
Although Hong Kong is one of the richest cities in the world and has some of the best health outcomes such as long life expectancy, little is known about the people who are unable to access healthcare due to lack of financial means. Cross-sectional data from a sample of 2,233 participants aged 18 or above was collected from the first wave of the “Trends and Implications of Poverty and Social Disadvantages in Hong Kong” survey. Socio-demographic factors, lifestyle factors, and physical and mental health conditions associated with people who were unable to seek medical services due to lack of financial means in the past year were examined using forward stepwise logistic regression analyses. Of the 2,233 participants surveyed, 8.4% did not seek medical care due to lack of financial means during the past year. They were more likely to be income-poor. With respect to physical and mental health, despite having less likelihood to have multimorbidity, they tended to have higher levels of both anxiety and stress, poorer physical and mental health-related quality of life, and suffer from more severe disability and pain symptoms affecting their daily activities, when compared to the rest of the Hong Kong population. People who were denied of medical care due to financial barriers are generally sicker than people in the general Hong Kong population, implying that those with greater healthcare needs may have financial difficulties in receiving timely and appropriate medical care. Our findings suggest that inequity in healthcare utilization remains a critical issue in Hong Kong.
inequality inequity 在 Inequality and Inequity - YouTube 的美食出口停車場
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