Objectives: This analysis examines the prevalence of self-reported unmet needs for health care and the extent to which they were attributable to perceived problems with service availability or accessibility or acceptability.
Data source: Most data are from the 1998/99 cross-sectional household component of Statistics Canada's National Population Health Survey; 1994/95 and 1996/97 cross-sectional data are used to present trends from 1994/95 to 1998/99. The primary analysis is based on 14, 143 respondents aged 18 or older.
Analytical techniques: Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the association of risk factors with the three types of unmet health care need.
Main results: In 1998/99, about 7% of Canadian adults, an estimated 1.5 million, reported having had unmet health care needs in the previous year. Around half of these episodes were attributable to acceptability problems such as being too busy. In 39% of cases, service availability problems, such as long waiting times, were mentioned. Just under 13% of episodes were related to accessibility problems (cost or transportation). Unmet needs attributable to service availability problems were not significantly associated with socio-economic status. By contrast, unmet needs due to accessibility problems were inversely associated with household income.