■初级保健医生通过提供连续的,以病人为中心,以及可获得的医疗保健,并与专业护理建立联系。然而,在韩国,初级保健医生的供应与死亡率之间的关联尚未得到彻底调查.
■这项研究利用了2016年至2020年韩国229个si-gun-gu的数据。初级保健医生的密度,功能性初级诊所的医生,初级保健设施的专家,每10万人中的活跃医生是独立变量。每100,000个人的年龄调整后的全因死亡率和特定于原因的死亡率是因变量。负二项回归,用伪面板方法进行负二项回归,并使用地理加权回归分析数据。
■我们的研究表明,初级保健医生的密度与全因死亡率之间存在显著的负相关。每100,000人口中初级保健医生的增加与全因死亡率降低0.11%显着相关(发病率比率,0.9989;95%置信区间,0.9983-0.9995)。心血管疾病死亡率之间也观察到了类似的关联,呼吸道疾病,和交通事故。
■这项研究提供了证据,表明在韩国拥有更多的初级保健医生与更低的死亡率有关。未来的研究应考虑反映初级保健质量的更好指标,以更好地了解其对人群健康结果的影响。这些发现强调了在韩国医疗保健系统中加强初级保健以改善整体健康和福祉的重要性。
BACKGROUND: Primary care physicians perform a comprehensive role by providing continuous, patient-centered, and accessible healthcare and establishing connections with specialized care. However, the association between the supply of primary care physicians and mortality rates in South Korea has not been thoroughly investigated.
METHODS: This study utilized data from 229 si-gun-gu in South Korea from 2016 to 2020. The densities of primary care physicians, physicians in functional primary clinics, specialists in primary care facilities, and active physicians per 100,000 people were independent variables. Age-adjusted all-cause mortality and cause-specific mortality rates per 100,000 individuals were the dependent variables. Negative binomial regression, negative binomial regression with a pseudo-panel approach, and geographically weighted regression were used to analyze the data.
RESULTS: Our study revealed a significant negative association between the density of primary care physicians and all-cause mortality. An increase in a primary care physician per 100,000 population was significantly linked to a 0.11% reduction in all-cause mortality (incidence rate ratio, 0.9989; 95% confidence interval, 0.9983-0.9995). Similar associations have been observed between mortality rates owing to cardiovascular diseases, respiratory tract diseases, and traffic accidents.
CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that having a higher number of primary care physicians in South Korea is associated with lower mortality rates. Future research should consider better indicators that reflect the quality of primary care to better understand its impact on population health outcomes. These findings emphasize the significance of strengthening primary care in the South Korean healthcare system to improve the overall health and wellbeing.