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Table 3 The prevalence of refrain from buying medications due to cost by different socio-economic variables

From: The prevalence of self-reported underuse of medications due to cost for the elderly: results from seven European urban communities

Variable

%/n

Lithuania

Sweden

Germany

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Greece

All

Sex

        

 Male (R)

16.0/36

0.7/2

1.6/5

0.7/2

0.0/0

1.6/4

0.0/0

2.6/49

 Female

15.6/63

1.2/4

2.3/8

2.2/8

0.5/2

6.0/24**

1.1/4*

4.4/113***

Age group

        

 60–64 years (R)

20.5/30

2.4/5

2.9/4

2.1/3

0.0/0

1.9/3

1.1/2

4.2/47

 65–69 years

16.9/25

0.0/0*

0.5/1

2.1/3

0.7/1

3.8/6

0.6/1

3.4/37

 70–74 years

12.3/18

0.9/1

3.9/6

2.3/3

0.0/0

5.8/8

0.7/1

3.9/37

 74–79 years

14.0/17

0.0/0*

1.0/1

0.8/1

0.9/1

7.0/8

0.0/0

3.7/28

 80–84 years

13.0/9

0.0/0*

1.4/1

0.0/0

0.0/0

3.7/3

0.0/0

2.4/13*

Lives alone

        

 No (R)

16.4/78

0.7/3

0.9/4

1.5/8

0.2/1

3.3/17

0.6/3

3.4/114

 Yes

13.2/20

1.4/3

4.3/ 9*

2.4/2

0.9/1

7.7/11

0.6/1

4.4/47

Education

        

 Less than primary

26.5/9

7.1/1

0.0/0

0.0/0

0.3/1

17.3/13***

0.0/0

3.6/24

 Primary

17.7/26

1.6/3

7.7/1

0.9/2

1.2/1

4.2/10

0.5/1

4.1/45

 Secondary

16.3/46

1.0/2

2.2/9

2.2/7

0.0/0

1.3/3

0.8/2

3.8/68

 University (R)

11.3/16

0.0/0

1.7/3

1.5/1

0.0/0

1.9/2

0.0/0

2.6/22

Economic hardship

        

 Never

3.0/5***

0.3/1*

0.0/0*

0.8/2*

0.0/0

0.0/0***

2.4/1

0.6/9***

 Quite often

15.1/36*

0.0/0*

2.0/4*

0.4/1*

0.0/0

2.0/3*

0.0/0

3.7/44*

 Often

24.4/33

2.9/1

5.4/4

2.1/2

0.0/0

13.5/10

0.0/0

7.2/50

 Always (R)

28.4/25

15.4/4

17.9/5

10.6/5

0.7/2

6.4/15

1.1/3

6.1/59

  1. n number of observed persons, R reference group
  2. *-p < 0.05, **-p < 0,01 and ***-p < 0,001 comparing with a reference group