Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften

Abstract zu "Trends and Determinants of e-consultations in Denmark: A nationwide register-based Study"

eHealth is one of the fastest growing fields in healthcare. The World Health Organization defines eHealth as "the cost-effective and secure use of information and communications technologies in support of health and health-related fields, including health-care services, health surveillance, health literature, and health education, knowledge and research". Consequently, the term eHealth encompasses a wide range of services and features. Research suggests that there is a substantial heterogeneity in the eHealth use and even the digital divide, which is characterized by the unequal access to digital technology in health care by vulnerable groups. The demand for suitable eHealth solutions has increased since the pandemic. The question whether increasing provision of eHealth services has benefited all population subgroups or created more health inequalities is yet to be investigated. By utilizing Danish register data from 2005 to 2014, this study investigates trends and heterogeneity in the use of e-consultations (e-cons, emails exchanged between general practitioners (GP) and patients) in the Danish population. Our preliminary results show that although in-person consultations are the most frequently used mode of the patient-doctor communication, there is a clear increasing trend in e-cons during the observation period. However, the patterns vary by age and gender. Specifically, among people under 60, women use e-cons more frequently than men. Among 60 to 79 years old persons, men tend to use e-cons relative to women. In the oldest age group (80 and over), the trend reverses again, with women being more frequent users of e-cons than men. In addition, preliminary results show that individual characteristics associated with a higher e-cons use were being women, high education, high income, and older age (85 and older).