Health Care Responsiveness by Conventional, Traditional and Complementary Medicine Providers in a National Sample of Middle-Aged and Older Adults in India in 2017–2018

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of health care responsiveness by conventional, traditional and complementary medicine providers in middle-aged and older community-dwelling adults from the India Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave 1 in 2017–2018. Methods: The cross-sectional sample included 37,852 participants who received outpatient health care in the past 12 months, of which 33,615 had visited a conventional health facility, 2120 an AYUSH facility, and 2117 a traditional health practitioner (THP). Results: The prevalence of poor health care responsiveness was 10.1% overall, and 10.7% for the conventional health facility, 8.3% for AYUSH, and 5.7% for the THP. In adjusted logistic regression analysis using the whole sample, the prevalence of poor health care responsiveness was significantly lower among AYUSH and THP clients than among conventional health care clients. Having higher education, higher socioeconomic status and being a Sikh decreased the odds of poor health care responsiveness, while being a member of a caste, having two or more chronic diseases, functional disability, and visiting the health facility for immunisation increased the odds of poor health care responsiveness. In regard to the AYUSH provider, older age decreased the odds and member of a caste, being a Christian and functional disability increased the odds of poor health care responsiveness, and in terms of the THP, being a Sikh decreased the odds and older age, functional disability and visiting the THP for immunisation and for treatment for injury/accident increased the odds of poor health care responsiveness. Discussion: One in ten middle-aged or older adults in India reported poor health care responsiveness, and several sociodemographic and health factors were identified associated with poor health care responsiveness by different service providers.