Sándor, J.; Pálinkás, A.; Vincze, F.; Kovács, N.; Sipos, V.; Kőrösi, L.; Falusi, Z.; Pál, L.; Fürjes, G.; Papp, M.; Ádány, R. Healthcare Utilization and All-Cause Premature Mortality in Hungarian Segregated Roma Settlements: Evaluation of Specific Indicators in a Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2018, 15, 1835.
Sándor, J.; Pálinkás, A.; Vincze, F.; Kovács, N.; Sipos, V.; Kőrösi, L.; Falusi, Z.; Pál, L.; Fürjes, G.; Papp, M.; Ádány, R. Healthcare Utilization and All-Cause Premature Mortality in Hungarian Segregated Roma Settlements: Evaluation of Specific Indicators in a Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1835.
Sándor, J.; Pálinkás, A.; Vincze, F.; Kovács, N.; Sipos, V.; Kőrösi, L.; Falusi, Z.; Pál, L.; Fürjes, G.; Papp, M.; Ádány, R. Healthcare Utilization and All-Cause Premature Mortality in Hungarian Segregated Roma Settlements: Evaluation of Specific Indicators in a Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2018, 15, 1835.
Sándor, J.; Pálinkás, A.; Vincze, F.; Kovács, N.; Sipos, V.; Kőrösi, L.; Falusi, Z.; Pál, L.; Fürjes, G.; Papp, M.; Ádány, R. Healthcare Utilization and All-Cause Premature Mortality in Hungarian Segregated Roma Settlements: Evaluation of Specific Indicators in a Cross-Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1835.
Abstract
Roma is the largest ethnic minority of Europe with poor health status, which is poorly explored due to legal constrains of ethnicity assessment. We aimed to elaborate health-indicators for adults living in segregated Roma settlements (SRS) representing the most vulnerable Roma subpopulation. SRSs were mapped in a study area populated by 54682 adults. Records of all adults living in the study area were processed in the National Institute of Health Insurance Fund Management. Aggregated, age-sex standardized SRS-specific and non-SRS-specific indicators on healthcare utilization and premature death along with the ratio of them (RR) were computed with 95% confidence intervals. The rate of GP appointments was significantly higher among SRS inhabitants (RR=1.152, 95%CI: 1.136–1.167). The proportion of subjects hospitalized (RR=1.286, 1.177–1.405), and the reimbursement for inpatient care (RR=1.060, 1.057–1.064) were elevated for SRS. Premature mortality was significantly higher in SRSs (RR=1.711, 1.085-2.696). Our study demonstrated that it is possible to compute the SRS-specific version of the routine healthcare indicators without violating the protection of personal data by converting a sensitive ethical issue to a non-sensitive small area geographical analysis; there is an SRS-specific healthcare utilization pattern, which is associated with elevated costs and increased risk of premature death.
Keywords
Roma minority, legal constrains, health care utilization, health status, geographical inequality
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public Health and Health Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
