GP attendance by elderly Australians: Evidence for unmet need in elderly men

Objectives: To examine GP service use by elderly people and, in particular, to compare those who had not consulted a GP in one year with those who were low attenders and those who were high attenders. Design: Medicare data on GP service use were matched to data collected by interview in 1990-1991 and reinterview in 1994 as part of a community study on health and well-being. Setting: Canberra and Queanbeyan in the Australian Capital Territory. Participants: People aged 70 years and over, living in the community. Main outcome measures: The number of visits made to a GP in 12 months. Results: Medicare data were available for 624 of the 897 participants interviewed (70%). While the women non-attenders reported similar levels of physical illness and symptoms to the low attenders, men non-attenders reported significantly higher levels of illness (P < 0.01) than the low-attender group. The health of men who were non-attenders was very similar to men who were high attenders of GP services. Men who had not seen a GP in one year reported significantly more pain (P = 0.002) and less social support than both low attenders and high attenders (P = 0.012 and P = 0.049, respectively). Conclusion: We identified a group of men who had not attended a GP in one year, despite significant levels of morbidity. Such a group may benefit from consultation with a GP and could be targeted in any attempt to improve elderly men's health.