Gender and healthcare accessibility in Europe

Abstract

Objective: Healthcare accessibility is necessary to achieve good health outcomes. However, access to healthcare can be decreased due to distance to healthcare centres, high costs, or waiting lists. The present study explored if there is a gender gap related to healthcare accessibility constraints.

Methods: We performed a cross-country transversal study to investigate the existence of gender-related healthcare accessibility constraints using Mann-Whitney U tests. The research was based on self-reported unmet needs for medical examination due to access barriers according to Eurostat. We examined annual observations from 2005 through 2011 from eight European countries: Greece, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Conclusions: We found a gender gap related to unmet medical needs due to high costs, with females more likely to have such needs. The difference in mean values related to gender was statistically significant for Greece (5.17% vs. 3.59%; p = .007), France (1.80% vs. 1.23%; p = .007), Ireland (1.53% vs. 1.13%; p = .011), and Italy (4.39% vs. 2.99%; p = .004).