dc.contributor.author | Norbye, Anja Margrete Davis | |
dc.contributor.author | Abelsen, Birgit | |
dc.contributor.author | Førde, Olav Helge | |
dc.contributor.author | Ringberg, Unni | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2022-03-25T13:47:49Z | |
dc.date.available | 2022-03-25T13:47:49Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2022-02-02 | |
dc.description.abstract | Background: Healthcare use is increasing, and health anxiety (HA) is recognized as an important associated factor. Previous research on the association between HA and healthcare use has mostly explored HA as a dichotomous
construct, which contrasts the understanding of HA as a continuous construct, and compared healthcare use to
non-use. There is a need for studies that examine the association between healthcare use and the continuum of HA in
a general population.<p>
Aim: To explore the association between HA and primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist healthcare use and
any diferences in the association by level of healthcare use.<p>
Methods: This study used cross-sectional data from the seventh Tromsø study. Eighteen thousand nine hundred
sixty-seven participants aged 40 years or older self-reported their primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist
healthcare use over the past 12months. Each health service was categorized into 5 groups according to the level of
use. The Whiteley Index-6 (WI-6) was used to measure HA on a 5-point Likert scale, with a total score range of 0–24.
Analyses were conducted using unconstrained continuation-ratio logistic regression, in which each level of healthcare
use was compared with all lower levels. Morbidity, demographics and social variables were included as confounders.<p>
Results: HA was positively associated with increased utilization of primary, somatic specialist and mental specialist
healthcare. Adjusting for confounders, including physical and mental morbidity, did not alter the signifcant association. For primary and somatic specialist healthcare, each one-point increase in WI-6 score yielded a progressively
increased odds ratio (OR) of a higher level of use compared to all lower levels. The ORs ranged from 1.06 to 1.15 and
1.05 to 1.14 for primary and somatic specialist healthcare, respectively. For mental specialist healthcare use, the OR
was more constant across levels of use, ranging between 1.06 and 1.08.<p>
Conclusions: In an adult general population, HA, as a continuous construct, was signifcantly and positively associated with primary, somatic specialist and mental healthcare use. A small increase in HA was associated with progressively increased healthcare use across the three health services, indicating that the impact of HA is more prominent
with higher healthcare use. | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Norbye AD, Abelsen B, Førde oh, Ringberg U. Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use. BMC Health Services Research. 2022;22(1) | en_US |
dc.identifier.cristinID | FRIDAID 1997919 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1186/s12913-022-07529-x | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1472-6963 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/24571 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
dc.publisher | BMC | en_US |
dc.relation.ispartof | Norbye, A.D. (2022). Health anxiety as a continuous construct in the general population - measuring the distribution of health anxiety and the associations with healthcare use, physical disease and cardiovascular risk factors. (Doctoral thesis). <a href=https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27090>https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27090</a>. | |
dc.relation.journal | BMC Health Services Research | |
dc.rights.accessRights | openAccess | en_US |
dc.rights.holder | Copyright 2022 The Author(s) | en_US |
dc.title | Health anxiety is an important driver of healthcare use | en_US |
dc.type.version | publishedVersion | en_US |
dc.type | Journal article | en_US |
dc.type | Tidsskriftartikkel | en_US |
dc.type | Peer reviewed | en_US |