Population aging in Canada is expected to result in a sharp increase in the use of health services by the aged. The purpose of this thesis, is to enhance the knowledge of the utilization of the health system by the elderly. For this, an analysis of the utilization of three health services was pursued, using data from two health surveys, and two general social surveys in a statistical examination; to describe age-use; identify the major determinants of utilization; and to discover the sources of change in use. The results show that the aged were the highest users of health services among all age groups. Use increased for some services, and decreased for others. Changes in how people were managed by the health system, and to a lesser extent a rise in disease prevalence, were the primary sources of variations in utilization. There was no conclusive evidence of the presence of supplier induced demand. Population aging was not a significant determinant of changes in health service use, but rather factors associated with the management of the elderly by the health system; this includes technological changes in medicine, and changes in treatment patterns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.42108 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Newman, Edward, 1957- |
| Contributors | Soderstrom, L. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Economics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001564085, proquestno: NQ30350, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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