Atención de salud en el Gran Santiago según niveles de ingreso económico

Abstract

A study of the relationship between health and medical care and the economic situation of the families is reported. An aleatory sample from the Great Santiago population with 650 families and 2.829 people was interviewed in their homes studying the frecuency of acute and chronic diseases, accidents health examinations, medical and dental care. The reason for having or not medica! care, the quality and the cost were also investigated. Significant differences were noticed in the comparison of six groups of economic status with a greater number of disease episodes of acute conditions, prevalence of chronic diseases and emotional disturbance in the pourest population groups. The frecuency of medical care was similar in the different economic groups while dental care was significantly higher in the wealthy people. The comparative frequency of hospital admissions deaths, type of medical care, oppinions on the quality of medical assistance, the reason for not having professional care and the cost of pharmacy and other disbursements are also presented.