Ecology of Medical Care - Utilisation of Health Care in Austria

NCT ID: NCT01261845

Last Updated: 2015-04-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Total Enrollment: 3500 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2010-02-28
• Study Completion Date: 2013-03-31

Brief Summary

BACKGROUND: A proper understanding of the attitudes towards its own health status and concise estimates concerning the health seeking behavior of the different subgroups of a population are highly desirable. The structure of the Austrian population with regard to its age distribution and the proportion of people with immigrant backgrounds have been rapidly changing in recent years. Questions of allocating limited resources and meeting the needs of under-served populations have become increasingly important. However, data that could illuminate these issues are sparse and therefore obtaining them will be important for making sensible policy decisions.

METHODS: A telephone survey of the Austrian population for the assessment of the occurrence of any health complaint and the subsequent help seeking behavior with special emphasize on under-served minority groups - migrant population, elder people, and female gender.

AIMS: Our analysis of the data obtained should help to clarify some hitherto undocumented aspects and should provide the evidence for building a better health care infrastructure with equality of access and efficient coordination. We also hope that this information can help to allocate resources strategically according to needs and cost-efficiency in health care.

Conditions

Health Behavior

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: ECOLOGIC_OR_COMMUNITY
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 15 years and older

Exclusion Criteria

• younger than 15 years

• Minimum Eligible Age: 15 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Bank of Austria

OTHER_GOV

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Medical University of Vienna

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Otto Pichlhoefer

MD

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Otto Pichlhoefer, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

MedUni Vienna

Locations

Department for General Practice and Family Medicine, Center for Public Health at the Medical University of Vienna

Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Countries

Austria

References

Pichlhofer O, Maier M. Unregulated access to health-care services is associated with overutilization--lessons from Austria. Eur J Public Health. 2015 Jun;25(3):401-3. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cku189. Epub 2014 Nov 23.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 25417940 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

13575

Identifier Type: OTHER

Identifier Source: secondary_id

13683

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id