Table 1.
Characteristics of the study participants—overall and by their experiences in obtaining healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic
| Overall n (%) (N=843) | Difficulty obtaining healthcare N (%) | Difficulty obtaining medications n (%) | |||||
| Yes (n=445, 52.8%) |
No (n=398, 47.2%) |
*P value | Yes (n=114, 13.5%) |
No (n=729, 86.5%) |
*P value | ||
| Age in years | |||||||
| 60–69 | 383 (45.4) | 164 (36.9) | 219 (55.0) | <0.001 | 35 (30.7) | 348 (47.7) | 0.001 |
| 70–79 | 315 (37.4) | 189 (42.5) | 126 (31.7) | 59 (51.8) | 256 (35.1) | ||
| 80+ | 145 (17.2) | 92 (20.7) | 53 (13.3) | 20 (17.5) | 125 (17.1) | ||
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | 412 (48.9) | 229 (51.5) | 183 (46.0) | 0.112 | 44 (38.6) | 368 (50.5) | 0.018 |
| Male | 431 (51.1) | 216 (48.5) | 215 (54.0) | 70 (61.4) | 361 (49.5) | ||
| †Marital status | |||||||
| Married | 639 (75.8) | 321 (72.1) | 318 (79.9) | 0.009 | 93 (81.6) | 546 (74.9) | 0.121 |
| Without partner | 204 (24.2) | 124 (27.9) | 80 (20.1) | 21 (18.4) | 183 (25.1) | ||
| Ethnicity | |||||||
| Brahmins/Chhetri | 266 (31.6) | 159 (35.7) | 107 (26.9) | 0.006 | 18 (15.8) | 248 (34.0) | <0.001 |
| Minorities and others | 577 (68.4) | 286 (64.3) | 291 (73.1) | 96 (84.2) | 481 (66.0) | ||
| Education | |||||||
| No formal schooling | 577 (68.4) | 298 (67.0) | 279 (70.1) | 0.328 | 70 (61.4) | 507 (69.5) | 0.082 |
| Formal schooling | 266 (31.6) | 147 (33.0) | 119 (29.9) | 44 (38.6) | 222 (30.5) | ||
| Residence | |||||||
| Rural | 370 (43.9) | 204 (45.8) | 166 (41.7) | 0.227 | 114 (100.0) | 256 (35.1) | NA |
| Urban | 473 (56.1) | 241 (54.2) | 232 (58.3) | 0 | 473 (64.9) | ||
| Current occupation | |||||||
| Agriculture | 400 (47.4) | 231 (51.9) | 169 (42.5) | 0.001 | 88 (77.2) | 312 (42.8) | <0.001 |
| Non-agriculture | 169 (20.0) | 68 (15.3) | 101 (25.4) | 12 (10.5) | 157 (21.5) | ||
| Housewife/retired | 274 (32.5) | 146 (32.8) | 128 (32.2) | 14 (12.3) | 260 (35.7) | ||
| Living arrangement | |||||||
| Live alone | 92 (10.9) | 51 (11.5) | 41 (10.3) | 0.590 | 11 (9.6) | 81 (11.1) | 0.642 |
| Live with family | 751 (89.1) | 394 (88.5) | 357 (89.7) | 103 (90.4) | 648 (88.9) | ||
| Walking proximity to the nearest health centre | |||||||
| <30 min | 272 (32.3) | 124 (27.9) | 148 (37.2) | 0.006 | 41 (36.0) | 231 (31.7) | 0.000 |
| 30–60 min | 372 (44.1) | 201 (45.2) | 171 (43.0) | 32 (28.1) | 340 (46.6) | ||
| >60 min | 199 (23.6) | 120 (27.0) | 79 (19.8) | 41 (36.0) | 158 (21.7) | ||
| Financial hardships with healthcare | |||||||
| No | 379 (45.0) | 184 (41.3) | 195 (49.0) | 0.026 | 65 (57.0) | 314 (43.1) | 0.005 |
| Yes | 464 (55.0) | 261 (58.7) | 203 (51.0) | 49 (43.0) | 415 (56.9) | ||
| Receiving social security allowance | |||||||
| No | 409 (48.5) | 185 (41.6) | 224 (56.3) | <0.001 | 51 (44.7) | 358 (49.1) | 0.385 |
| Yes | 434 (51.5) | 260 (58.4) | 174 (43.7) | 63 (55.3) | 371 (50.9) | ||
| Pre-existing (NCDs) conditions | |||||||
| None | 282 (33.5) | 84 (18.9) | 198 (49.7) | <0.001 | 17 (14.9) | 265 (36.4) | <0.001 |
| Single condition | 369 (43.8) | 220 (49.4) | 149 (37.4) | 60 (52.6) | 309 (42.4) | ||
| Multimorbidity | 192 (22.8) | 141 (31.7) | 51 (12.8) | 37 (32.5) | 155 (21.3) | ||
*P values from a χ2 test comparing participants experiencing and not experiencing difficulty.
†Includes widowed, separated and never married.
NCDs, non-communicable diseases.