The influence of social determinants on health status and the degree of use of services

About

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that health, well-being, and quality of life are influenced by the economic and social dimensions of the living environment. The World Health Organization includes in its definition of social determinants of health the circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age, as well as the health systems that respond to illness. Health inequalities are differences in health status between socially, economically, demographically, or geographically defined population groups that persist globally despite government efforts to reduce them.

The effects of the implementation of the project "Social inclusion through the provision of integrated services at the community level" carried out by UNICEF in 45 localities in Bacău County between 2014 and 2018 have demonstrated that the implementation of early education programs and social protection measures has positive effects on health and health inequalities, highlighting the importance of social determinants and the need to monitor them.

The aim of the study is to highlight the influence of social determinants on health status by analyzing hospital admission diagnoses, which suggest the existence of socioeconomic vulnerabilities, and the degree of use of hospital medical services, expressed by the number of patient readmissions.