Factors Associated with the Delay in Seeing a Doctor: Evidence of Chinese Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Abstract

Background: There have been few studies concerning delayed medical attention among middle-aged and older adults, and in-depth analyses of delay duration and symptoms have been lacking. Methods: In this cross-sectional study exploiting a face-to-face questionnaire survey, we investigated delays in seeing a doctor among ≥ 45-year-old people in Zhejiang, China over the past year, and analyzed relevant influencing factors through logistics regression. Results: A total of 1034 people aged ≥45 years were enrolled, whose overall occurrence of delay in seeing a doctor was 28.24% (23.00% for older adults aged ≥60 years). Factors like the presence of 2 chronic diseases, intense social loneliness, and more health care needs contributed to the occurrence of delay in seeing a doctor (OR (95% CI) = 2.102 (1.252–3.529); OR (95% CI) = 1.030 (1.002–1.059); OR (95% CI) = 1.049 (1.002–1.099). Contrastively, factors like convenient access to medical care and good self-reported health status inhibited such occurrence OR (95% CI) = 0.321 (0.199–0.519); OR (95% CI) = 0.369 (0.183–0.745). The foremost reason was wanting to wait and see if the problem would get better on its own (117, 40.07%). Respiratory system disease (14.90%), dental problems (13.82%), and cardiac disease (13.61%) constituted the top 3 types of diseases whose treatments were delayed. Additionally, for the majority of older adults, the delay duration was 1–2 weeks (99, 33.90%), and the economic burden was the cause of the longest delay in seeing a doctor among middle-aged and older adults. Conclusion: To alleviate the problem of delay in seeing a doctor among middle-aged and older adults, their families and society should enhance care for them and reduce their sense of social loneliness. Emphasis should be placed by the government on helping middle-aged and older adults with financial difficulties so that their medical convenience can be improved.