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Research Article

Comparing health care use and related costs between groups with and without hearing impairment

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Pages 881-890 | Received 11 Nov 2009, Accepted 07 Jul 2010, Published online: 13 Sep 2010
 

Abstract

Abstract

This study aims to compare the use (and related costs) of different health care resources between groups of normally-hearing and hearing-impaired people. A distinction was made between hearing-related and other health care contacts. Data were collected at the baseline measurement of the national longitudinal study on hearing, and at each month during a subsequent period of six months. Hearing status was determined using an internet speech-in-noise test. The sample comprised 1295 normally-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects, aged 18–65 years. Adjusting for confounders, regression models showed that hearing-impaired respondents had significantly more contacts and higher costs for primary, secondary, and occupational care than normally-hearing respondents during the period under investigation. The differences were due to a larger number of health care contacts for which hearing impairment was the main motive to seek help. After excluding these contacts, the differences in health care use and costs between the groups were not significant. This suggests that besides hearing-related contacts, adults with hearing impairment do not make more use of health care resources than adults without hearing difficulties.

Sumario

El objetivo de este estudio fue comparar el uso (y sus costos) de diferentes formas de cuidados de la salud entre grupos con audición normal o con impedimentos auditivos. Se hizo una distinción entre proveedores de servicios de salud relacionados con la audición u otros. Se colectaron datos con las mediciones de base del estudio longitudinal nacional sobre la audición y subsecuentemente cada mes, durante un período de seis meses. Se determinó la condición auditiva usando una prueba de lenguaje-en-ruido por internet. La muestra comprendió a 1295 normo-oyentes e hipoaúsicos, con edades entre 18–65 años. Con ajustes contra elementos de confusión, los modelos de regresión mostraron que los hipoacúsicos tenían significativamente más contactos y mayores costos de cuidados primarios, secundarios y ocupacionales que los oyentes durante el período de la investigación. Las diferencias se debieron a un mayor número de contactos para cuidados de la salud, que en el caso de los hipoacúsicos, fue el principal motivo de búsqueda de ayuda. Después de excluir esos contactos, las diferencias en uso y costos de cuidados de la salud entre ambos grupos no fue significativa. Esto sugiere que aparte de los contactos relacionados con la audición, los adultos con impedimentos auditivos no hacen más uso de los recursos para cuidados de la salud que los adultos que no tienen dificultades auditivas.

Acknowledgements

The study was financially supported by the Heinsius Houbolt Foundation. We greatly acknowledge the contribution of all those participanting in the NL-SH.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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