The hidden crisis: classifying unmet healthcare needs in European older adults during COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the unmet healthcare needs of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, leveraging data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) and the two waves of the SHARE Corona Survey (SCS) conducted in 2020 and 2021. Using latent class analysis (LCA) with covariates, we identified distinct groups based on experiences of forgoing medical treatments due to fear of infection, postponed medical appointments, and denied care, while examining socio-demographic, economic, and health-related differences in class membership. The two-wave data provide insights into patterns of unmet healthcare needs across time, highlighting groups whose situations appeared to either improve or deteriorate. Our findings reveal six distinct classes of healthcare needs: no unm

SUBMITTER: Smolic S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12222597 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature