Health Status and Health Service Utilization among Vietnamese Farmers in a Mountainous Province.
Problems of poor health status and low health service use among farmers in mountainous areas have not been fully investigated. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Son La, a mountainous province in Vietnam, to assess the self-rated health and health care service utilization among farmers. Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to measure the self-rated health. Multivariate Tobit, Poisson, and logistic regression were employed to identify related factors. Among 197 farmers, the mean VAS score was 67.8 (SD = 15.5). Approximately 40% of participants reported health problems, and the most popular morbidity was hypertension-56.4%. There were 28.9% and 50.3% of farmers using inpatient and outpatient treatments in the last 12 months, respectively. Age, educational level, family income, marital status, alcohol use, and source of information have been identified as associated factors with self-rated health status and morbidities, while age, gender, education, and morbidities were related to health service utilization. Data indicated a high proportion of health issues and a high rate of health care service use among farmers in a mountainous area of Vietnam. Adaptable health policies and prevention programs or preventive health services should be implemented regularly in mountainous regions to protect farmers from the onset of morbidities and to enhance their health.
['Nguyen|Diep Ngoc|DN|', 'Nguyen|Long Hoang|LH|', 'Nguyen|Cuong Tat|CT|', 'Pham|Hai Quang|HQ|', 'Hwang|Jongnam|J|', 'Vu|Giang Thu|GT|', 'Tran|Bach Xuan|BX|0000-0001-7827-8449', 'Latkin|Carl A|CA|0000-0002-7931-2116', 'Ho|Cyrus S H|CSH|', 'Ho|Roger C M|RCM|0000-0001-9629-4493']
D000328:Adult D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D000067565:Farmers D005260:Female D006297:Health Services Accessibility D006304:Health Status D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D014744:Vietnam
health status utilization farmer mountainous Vietnam self-rated health quality of life