Factors affecting unmet medical needs of patients with diabetes: A population-based study.
Ji Young Kim, Youngran Yang
PMID 37461150WHAT IT FOUND
In Korean adults with diabetes, 8.7% reported needing care but not going.
Medical-aid recipients, people with poor self-rated health, frequent stress, rural residence, no spouse, women, and lower education had higher unmet-need rates.
Key findings
01Among 2269 adults with diabetes, 8.7% reported unmet medical needs; rates were higher among medical-aid recipients (17.8%), those with frequent stress (16.4%), poor self-rated health (13.6%), no spouse (13.8%), rural residents (12.4%), women (11.1%), and less-than-elementary graduates (10.8%).
02Adjusted analysis showed unmet medical experience was 4.24 times higher among people who perceived their health as poor and 2.53 times higher among those who felt a lot of stress.
03Lower income was associated with more unmet needs. In interaction models, compared with Q4, the income effect for women in Q3 was 0.32 times that for men, and compared with Q4, the income effect for college graduates in Q2 was 0.07 times that for middle-school graduates.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The survey design is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that any factor caused unmet needs. Unmet need was measured by a single yes/no question, not a diabetes-specific validated measure. Adults with missing data were excluded, which may affect representativeness. The income interaction results are complex and should not be read as simple effects.
Declared interests
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korea government; the authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat these associations as proof that income, stress, or poor self-rated health causes unmet medical needs. The study is cross-sectional and measured unmet need with a single yes/no question.