Gendered Disparities in Unmet Healthcare Needs among the Elderly During COVID-19 Pandemic in Latvia

Objectives*
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various aspects of daily life, including limited access to healthcare services, this study aimed to analyse associated factors of self-reported unmet healthcare needs among
individuals aged 50 and older during the first wave of the pandemic (March to June/July 2020) and one year
later (June/July 2021).
Materials and Methods
Data from the “Survey on Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe” (SHARE) included respondents aged 50+
from the first and second waves of the SHARE Corona survey and wave 8 of the regular survey in Latvia. Unmet healthcare needs were analyzed through responses on forgoing treatment, postponed appointments, or
inability to secure care, summarized in a binary variable; explanatory variables included demographics and
health factors. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression identified associated factors, adjusting
for demographics and economic variables. Analyses were conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics version 26.0, with
significance at p<0.05.
Results
The sample comprised 647 older adults from Latvia (62.9 % female) with a mean age of 68.6 (SD ± 9.6). After
adjustment for socio-demographic factors, unmet healthcare needs were associated with poor economic status in summer 2021 (OR=1.8, p=0.048), chronic conditions (OR=2.1, p=0.01), and functional limitations based
on instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) (OR=2.2, p=0.009) and global activity limitation indicator
(GALI) (OR=2.1, p=0.011) among females. Higher education (tertiary, OR=4.3, p=0.076) and economic inactivity (OR=13.9, p=0.032) were statistically significant factors among males.
Conclusions
This study highlighted gendered disparities in unmet healthcare needs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Latvia,
emphasizing the importance of chronic condition management and addressing gender-specific barriers to ensure equitable healthcare access during crises.