Table 2

Older adults’ health problems and utilisation of health services and medicines by type of health insurance (ENSANUT 2012)

Health insurance (HI)
Social SecuritySeguro PopularWithout HI
Number of respondents
 Unweighted840472563187
 Weighted5 156 8703 106 1831 789 322
 %51.3 (49.6, 53.0)30.9 (29.5, 32.3)17.8 (16.7, 18.8)
Health problemsWeighted %Weighted %Weighted %
Physical and/or mental limitations for:36.7 (34.9, 38.6)39.6 (37.6, 41.7)33.5 (31.1, 36.0)
 Sight, even when wearing glasses*13.7 (12.5, 15.0)17.1 (15.7, 18.5)12.4 (10.9, 14.2)
 Hearing, even when using a hearing aid*8.2 (7.4, 9.0)9.5 (8.8, 10.5)7.2 (6.2, 8.3)
 Walking, moving and climbing stairs*27.4 (25.8, 29.0)29.0 (27.3, 30.8)23.9 (21.8, 26.1)
 Dressing, bathing or eating4.1 (3.6, 4.7)4.5 (3.8, 5.2)3.7 (2.9, 4.8)
 Speaking, communicating or conversing1.9 (1.5, 2.3)2.3 (1.8, 2.8)2.1 (1.5, 2.9)
 Paying attention and learning simple things1.6 (1.3, 2.0)2.1 (1.7, 2.7)2.2 (1.6, 3.2)
 Understanding what other people say*1.3 (1.0, 1.7)1.9 (1.5, 2.3)2.0 (1.5, 2.9)
Diagnosis of chronic disease in the last year*19.3 (17.9, 20.8)17.4 (15.9, 19.1)12.9 (11.2, 15.0)
Health problem that happened within 15 days before the survey*19.2 (17.8, 20.5)24.5 (23.0, 26.1)18.8 (16.9, 20.8)
Healthcare need*16.8 (15.6, 18.2)21.3 (19.8, 22.8)16.1 (14.4, 17.9)
†Type of health problem*:
 Infectious diseases29.4 (26.4, 32.5)29.6 (26.8, 32.6)34.0 (29.0, 39.3)
 Non-infectious diseases47.6 (44.1, 51.1)40.0 (36.5, 43.3)39.2 (33.7, 45.0)
 Injury and/or poisoning6.2 (4.9, 7.9)6.1 (4.7, 7.9)6.5 (4.3, 9.6)
 Other: symptoms, signs and abnormal findings16.8 (14.4, 19.5)24.3 (21.4, 27.5)20.3 (16.5, 24.7)
†Perception of severity of health problem:
 Mild33.2 (30.1, 36.4)32.3 (29.3, 35.6)30.9 (26.2, 36.1)
 Moderate33.7 (30.3, 37.4)30.8 (28.0, 33.8)30.8 (25.8, 36.3)
 Severe33.1 (29.7, 36.5)36.9 (33.5, 40.1)38.3 (32.6, 44.3)
†Health services utilisation to resolve a health problem that happened within the past 15 days*78.4 (75.2, 81.2)60.2 (56.5, 63.8)55.3 (50.1, 60.4)
†Use of medicines within the past 15 days*87.8 (85.5, 90.1)79.1 (76.1, 81.8)78.9 (74.8, 82.5)
Hospitalisation within the last year*7.9 (7.0, 8.9)6.3 (5.6, 7.0)3.4 (2.6, 4.3)
  • *p<0.05.

  • †For those older adults who reported having health problems within 15 days before the survey.