Volunteering is prospectively associated with health care use among older adults.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Although observational and experimental studies have shown that volunteering is linked with better mental health, physical health, and health behaviors, no studies have examined whether volunteering is associated with patterns of health care use.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to prospectively examine whether volunteering was associated with a greater use of preventive health care services, but fewer doctor visits and nights spent in the hospital.

Methods

Participants (n = 7168) were drawn from the 2006 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative panel study of American adults over the age of 51, and tracked for one wave (2 years). Logistic regression and generalized linear models were used for analyses.

Results

In an

SUBMITTER: Kim ES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4718793 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature