The socioeconomic status influences the consumption of goods and services in each community in a very obvious way, a phenomenon which logically includes hospitalisation rates. But in what sense does poverty or wealth determine hospital utilisation? And what role does the accessibility to the number of installed beds in the community play in hospitalisation rates?
To try to answer these two questions I will examine two projects, an English one and an American one that emphasise two different hypothesis, the first one being based on the influence of poverty and the second one, on the installed capacity.
The English analysis. Hypothesis: poverty is crucial
This paper uses as a clinical measure, a closed list of 19 "Ambulatory Care-Sensitive Conditions (ACSC )", such as heart failure or diabetes complications that should not be a reason for admission if primary care had the capacity to globally treat these patients. Regarding the assessment of poverty, the study uses a socioeconomic quintiles index measuring various deprivations (Index of Multiple Deprivations: IMD 2010).
