Factors associated with the use of primary care by the adult population of belo horizonte, minas gerais, according to a telephone surveys

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the profile of use of primary health care services (PHC) and the association with sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions, behavioral risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Methods: analysis of the PHC assessment module included in the Vigitel 2015 telephone survey. Twothousand and six adults were interviewed. The eligibility criteria were adults ≥18 years old who used PHC in the 12 months prior to the interview. Raw and adjusted prevalence ratios by education and race/color were calculated. Poisson regression was used to verify the association between the use of PHC with sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions and risk factors. Results: it was observed that the use of PHC was higher among respondents without private health insurance (PR = 1.76; 95% CI 1.55-1.99); with low education, that is, ≤8 years of study (PR 1.59; 95% CI 1.35-1.87), followed by nine to 11 years of study (PR 1.37; 95% CI 1.16-1 , 61); and women (PR 1.34; 95% CI 1.19-1.51). Respondents who reported alcohol abuse were less likely to use PHC (PR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.66-0.95) and in the 40 to 59 age group (PR 0.93; 95% CI 0.88-0.99). Conclusion: the telephone survey is a useful tool to understand the population's health reality. The current study for the first time analyzed the Vigitel pilot module on the use of health services and identified that the use of PHC was more frequent in the population with low education, without private health insurances, women, 40 to 59 years old and in abusive use of alcohol.