SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC AND MORBIDITY INDICATORS OF NEED IN RELATION TO THE USE OF COMMUNITY-HEALTH SERVICES - OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Objective: To examine whether the sociodemographic and morbidity chara cteristics of populations influence their use of the following communi ty health services: district nursing, health visiting, chiropody, comm unity maternity, community mental illness, and the professions allied to medicine. Design: Observational study. Setting: Nationally represen tative sample of provider trusts in England. Main outcome measures: Ac tivity levels for each service calculated for enumeration districts wi thin the catchment areas of the sample of trusts and standardised to a llow for differences in age structure. Regression analysis to determin e whether the standardised activity rates for each service could be pr edicted by a range of socio-demographic and morbidity proxies. Results : Morbidity or deprivation, or both, seemed to influence the use of se rvices in each of the care programmes examined. Conclusions: The alloc ation of funds for community health services should allo iv for differ ences in the health and socio-demographic characteristics of health au thorities.