Comparison of outpatient health care utilization among returning women and men veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq
Authors
Duggal, MonaGoulet, Joseph L.
Womack, Julie
Gordon, Kirsha
Mattocks, Kristin M.
Haskell, Sally G.
Justice, Amy C.
Brandt, Cynthia A.
UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Quantitative Health SciencesDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2010-06-22Keywords
AdultAfghan Campaign 2001-
Ambulatory Care Facilities
Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Male
Retrospective Studies
United States
*Veterans
Veteran Administration Health
Private Health Insurance
Incident Rate Ratio
Veteran Administration
Health Care Service Utilization
Gender and Sexuality
Health Services Administration
Health Services Research
Military and Veterans Studies
Women's Health
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
BACKGROUND: The number of women serving in the United States military increased during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), leading to a subsequent surge in new women Veterans seeking health care services from the Veterans Administration (VA). The objective of this study was to examine gender differences among OEF/OIF Veterans in utilization of VA outpatient health care services. METHODS: Our retrospective cohort consisted of 1,620 OEF/OIF Veterans (240 women and 1380 men) who enrolled for outpatient healthcare at a single VA facility. We collected demographic data and information on military service and VA utilization from VA electronic medical records. To assess gender differences we used two models: use versus nonuse of services (logistic regression) and intensity of use among users (negative binomial regression). RESULTS: In our sample, women were more likely to be younger, single, and non-white than men. Women were more likely to utilize outpatient care services (odds ratio [OR] = 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.09, 1.98), but once care was initiated, frequency of visits over time (intensity) did not differ by gender (incident rate ratio [IRR] = 1.07; 95% CI: 0.90, 1.27). CONCLUSION: Recently discharged OEF/OIF women Veterans were more likely to seek VA health care than men Veterans. But the intensity of use was similar between women and men VA care users. As more women use VA health care, prospective studies exploring gender differences in types of services utilized, health outcomes, and factors associated with satisfaction will be required.Source
BMC Health Serv Res. 2010 Jun 22;10:175. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-10-175. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1186/1472-6963-10-175Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/51036PubMed ID
20565985Notes
At the time of publication, Kristin Mattocks was not yet affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
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Rights
© Duggal et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/1472-6963-10-175
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