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Multimorbidity and Health Care Service Utilization in the Australian Workforce: Findings from the National Health Survey.

Wang, Lili MSc; Palmer, Andrew J. MBBS; Otahal, Petr MS; Cocker, Fiona PhD; Sanderson, Kristy PhD
Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine: Post Author Corrections: July 6, 2017
doi: 10.1097/JOM.0000000000001089
Original Article: PDF Only

Objectives: The aim of this study was to understand the patterns of health care service utilization in employees with multimorbidity.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2011 to 2012 cross-sectional Australian National Health Survey. Past-month health care service utilization was collected for each chronic condition from a pre-specified list. Descriptive, logistic, and Poisson regression analyses were used. The data were weighted to produce nationally representative estimates.

Results: Multimorbid employees with arthritis had higher adjusted arthritis-specific general practitioner (GP) visit rates [rate ratio (RR) = 1.7, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.1 to 2.2, P < 0.001] than employees with arthritis alone. Similarly, multimorbid employees with cardiovascular disease (CVD) had higher adjusted CVD-specific specialist visit rates (RR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.1 to 2.5, P < 0.05) and 2.5 times (95% CI = 1.5 to 4.0, P < 0.001) more CVD-specific other health professional visits than employees with CVD alone.

Conclusions: Given the increasing number of employees managing work and chronic illnesses, these findings have implications for health services and employers.

Copyright (C) 2017 by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine