[Morbidity due to chronic diseases and their health care in Asturias: a gender analysis]

Abstract

Objective: To determine gender differences in the magnitude and complexity of chronic diseases and gender inequalities in health care in the adult population of Asturias in 2022.

Method: A cross-sectional population study in people (>14 years) with at least one diagnosis of chronic disease (780,566 inhabitants).

Sources of information: computer program for morbidity groups (Ministry of Health), Electronic medical record of primary care and hospital. Comparative analysis by sex and age, the mean values of chronic diseases and complexity index (Student's t test and one-way ANOVA), and probability (odds ratio and 95% CI) of suffering from specific chronic diseases, making one or more visits to the hospital emergency department or one or more admissions to hospital.

Results: 89.9% of women and 82.1% of men were registered with at least one chronic disease. The mean was higher in women (4.36) than in men (3.22) (p<0.001). Complexity index: men 4.56 and women 5.85 (p<0.001). Results show that women are more likely to attend the hospital emergency department, with an attendance rate of 50% for the diseases cited, compared with men at 29%. The rate of hospital admission is higher in men in 13 of the 14 diseases studied (85%).

Conclusions: Gender analysis can also be applied to secondary sources of the National Health System. Despite the greater magnitude and complexity of chronic diseases in women, there is a higher frequency of hospital admissions in men compared to women with the same diseases. This implies an unequal care profile in the field of hospital admissions that the scientific literature associates with gender biases in health care.

Keywords: Atención hospitalaria; Atención primaria; Chronic disease; Desigualdades de género; Enfermedades crónicas; Gender; Género; Health inequities; Hospital care; Morbidity; Morbilidad; Primary care; Sex; Sexo.