The utilization of health services and its influences among elderly people in Kerman-2014

Increased rate of aging population is associated with a high health care demand and utilization in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to describe the health services utilization among elderly in Kerman. This was a cross-sectional study in which 600 elderly people were selected using a randon clustered sampling method in Kerman. Data collection was performed using a structured questionnaire. To analyze the data, we used SPSS software ver 17.0 with descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis. In outpatient services, the most sources were private clinics (46.6%), and the most disease was musculoskeletal disorders (37.3%). In patient services, the main sources were public hospitals (55.7%) and the main reason of complaints was cardiovascular disorders (31.5%). Average length of stay in hospital was 3.9 days. The factors related to outpatient health service utilization by the elderly were age (p=0.012), gender (p=0.002), marital status(p=0.025), insurance status (p=0.035), education (p=0.021), screening (p<0.001) and self‐reported health status (p<0.001), and to inpatient services utilization were age(p=0.041), gender(p<0.001), insurance status (p=0.003), self‐reported health status (p<0.001). health problems in elderly such as musculoskeletal and cardiovascular have increased demand for health services. As it was showed that utilization of health services in elderly people is a multi-factorial event, thus, proper planning and policy for this increasingly demand is essential.