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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1373877

Socioeconomic inequality as a predictor of unmet health needs in the elderly population of Serbia

Provisionally accepted
Nikola N. Savic Nikola N. Savic 1*Svetlana R. Radevic Svetlana R. Radevic 2Verica Jovanovic Verica Jovanovic 3Nevena Rankovic Nevena Rankovic 4Igor Lukic Igor Lukic 1Slobodanka Bogdanovic Vasic Slobodanka Bogdanovic Vasic 5Branimirka Arandjelovic Branimirka Arandjelovic 6Biljana Bajic Biljana Bajic 7Andrea Mirkovic Andrea Mirkovic 1Aleksandra Arnaut Aleksandra Arnaut 8Borko Bajic Borko Bajic 9Svetlana Vukosavljevic Svetlana Vukosavljevic 1Sanja S. Kocic Sanja S. Kocic 10
  • 1 Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia
  • 2 Department of Social medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia
  • 3 Institute for Public Health of Serbia "Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut", Belgrade, Serbia
  • 4 Tranzo, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
  • 5 Department of Medical Sciences, Academy of Professional Studies Sabac, Sabac, Serbia
  • 6 Department of Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia
  • 7 Department of Health Promotion, Institute for Public Health of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
  • 8 Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Sumadija and Western Serbia, Serbia
  • 9 Department for Health Ecology, Institute for Public Health of Montenegro, Podgorica, Montenegro
  • 10 Department of Social medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Sumadija and Western Serbia, Serbia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: The aim of this paper is to assess the relationship between demographic and socioeconomic predictors and the unmet health needs of the elderly population in Serbia. Material and methods: The study is part of the Population Health Survey of Serbia, which was conducted in the period from October to December 2019 by the Institute for Public Health of Serbia "Dr. Milan Jovanović Batut" and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Serbia. The research was conducted on a representative sample of Serbian residents in the form of a cross-sectional study. For the purposes of this research study, data on senior citizens, aged 65 and older, were used. Results: Multivariate regression analysis of demographic characteristics that showed statistical significance in the univariate model as a whole explains between 4.2% (Cox & Snell R Square) and 5.9% (Nagelkerke R Square) of the variance of unmet health needs and correctly classifies 66.3% cases. Statistically significant demographic predictors were the region where the respondents live, level of education, and material condition. The results of the research show that the most dominant predictors of the unmet health needs of the elderly population are related to socioeconomic inequalities, financial reasons, and predictors related to the inaccessibility of health care. Conclusion: The results suggest that individual socioeconomic predictors have a great influence on the emergence of unmet health needs of the elderly population in Serbia. Every third oldest resident did not receive the necessary health care, most often due to financial constraints.

    Keywords: Unmet health needs 1, socioeconomic inequalities 2, elderly population 3, National Health Survey 4, Serbia5

    Received: 20 Jan 2024; Accepted: 09 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Savic, Radevic, Jovanovic, Rankovic, Lukic, Bogdanovic Vasic, Arandjelovic, Bajic, Mirkovic, Arnaut, Bajic, Vukosavljevic and Kocic. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Nikola N. Savic, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.