Physician visits in a farming-dependent county

• Published in: The Journal of rural health Vol. 14; no. 4; pp. 338 - 345
• Main Authors: Rohrer, J.E, Urdaneta, M, Vaughn, T, Merchant, J.A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.1998
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; AGRICULTURAL REGIONS; Agriculture; ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY; Female; FRANKLIN COUNTY, IOWA; GEOGRAFIA ECONOMICA; GEOGRAPHIE ECONOMIQUE; HEALTH SERVICES; Health Status; Humans; Insurance, Health; IOWA; Least-Squares Analysis; Male; MEDECIN; MEDICO; METHODE STATISTIQUE; METODOS ESTADISTICOS; Middle Aged; Office Visits - utilization; PHYSICIANS; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; RURAL AREAS; Rural Health Services - utilization; SERVICE DE SANTE PUBLIQUE; SERVICIOS DE SALUD; Socioeconomic Factors; STATISTICAL METHODS; ZONAS RURALES; ZONE RURALE; Iowa
• ISSN: 0890-765X; 1748-0361
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-0361.1998.tb00639.x

Physician visits in a farming-dependent county in the upper-Midwest were studied using a mail questionnaire. A 16 percent random sample of households yielded 426 surveys (60 percent response rate). The dependent variable was the natural log (plus one) of the number of times the respondent had seen a physician in the prior 12 months. Predisposing, enabling, and medical need variables were tested as potential predictors of medical care usage. Self-rated health status proved to be an important predictor, as was a history of hospitalization and being married. However, health insurance coverage and family income were not associated with increased physician visits. Implications for modifying the conceptual model employed to analyze medical care utilization in similar populations are discussed