Factors associated with delayed emergency room visits in adult immigrant patients with mild abdominal pain in Korea
- Author:
Do Young KIM
1
;
Dae Hee KIM
;
Hai Jeon YOON
;
Woon Jeong LEE
;
Seon Hee WOO
;
Seung Hwan SEOL
;
Han Joon KIM
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Emigrants and immigrants; Emergencies; Health services needs and demand
- MeSH: Abdominal Pain; Adult; Education; Emergencies; Emergency Medical Services; Emergency Service, Hospital; Emigrants and Immigrants; Employment; Health Services Needs and Demand; Humans; Insurance, Health; Korea; Linear Models; Marital Status; Medical Records; Odds Ratio; Retrospective Studies; Social Capital; Spouses; Tertiary Care Centers; Vital Signs
- From: Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine 2019;6(2):138-143
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors associated with unmet needs in immigrant patients complaining of abdominal pain, by analyzing those associated with the time from symptom onset to emergency room visit.METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of immigrants with abdominal pain who visited a tertiary hospital emergency department from January to December 2016. The dependent variable was the time from symptom onset to emergency room visit. The independent variables were age, sex, vital signs, disposition, health insurance status, date of visit, time of visit, level of education, employment status, economic satisfaction, marital status, living with family, duration of residence, having a native spouse, and subjective proficiency in Korean. We analyzed the association of the dependent variable with each independent variable.RESULTS: In total, 102 immigrant patients with abdominal pain were enrolled in this study. The patients who had earlier visits had good subjective proficiency in Korean, high economic satisfaction, longer durations of residence, a tendency to have a native spouse, and a high employment rate. After linear regression analysis, the time from symptom onset to emergency room visit was negatively associated with employment (adjusted odds ratio, -13.67; 95% confidence interval, -23.25 to -4.09; P=0.006) and having a native spouse (adjusted odds ratio, -11.7; 95% confidence interval, -20.61 to -2.8; P=0.011).CONCLUSION: The factors influencing the time from symptom onset to emergency room visit in immigrant patients with abdominal pain are associated with social capital, which improves access to emergency care. Policies that improve immigrant access to emergency care should be considered.
