Table 1 Variable definition
Variable | Variable type | Measurement |
|---|---|---|
Independent variables (Logistic regression) | ||
For respondents with PHI: Hospital admission type | Binary | 1 if a public patient in a public hospital and 0 otherwise |
For respondents with PHI: Who had an overnight hospital stay | Binary | Selected to be a public patient (treated as a patient without PHI) in a public hospital was coded as 1 and 0 otherwise (private patient in a public hospital or private patient in a public hospital). |
Other explanatory variables | ||
Number of doctor visits Number of hospital admissions Number of nights per hospital admission | Continuous | Positive values from 0 to upwards. |
Whether during the last 12 months, respondents had: Visited a hospital doctor Visited a specialist doctor Visited a mental health professional Health check-ups or screening | Binary | Yes = 1 No = 0 |
Household annual expenditure on pharmaceuticals Fees paid to health practitioners | Continuous | Positive values from 0 to upwards. |
Household disposable income (DY) | Ordinal | Four categories: Low income is DY<$63,746, lower middle income is DY = $63,746 to $100,757, higher middle income is $100,758 to $144,848 and high income is DY>$144,849. Calculated based on the income level of the respondents of the respective waves. |
Age | Ordinal | Three categories: age < 45; age 45–65; age > 65. |
Education level | Binary | Two categories: > High school; ≤ High school. |
Body Mass Index (BMI) | Ordinal | Four categories based on the respondents BMI: BMI = < 18.5; BMI 18.6–24.9; BMI 25–29.9 BMI= > 30. |
Self-assessed health | Scale | Five categories (excellent, very good, good, fair and poor) using scale 1–5. |
Prevalence of long-term health conditions | Binary | Yes = 1 No = 0 |
Marital status | Binary | Two categories: Currently married = 1 and all other situation = 0. |
Mental health status | Scale | Kessler psychological distress scale (low, moderate, high and very high) using values 1–4. |
Physical activity | Ordinal | Three categories: less than once a week, 1–3 times a week, more than three times per week. |
Smoking status (Smokes cigarettes or other tobacco products) | Ordinal | Three categories: non-smoker = I have never or no longer smoke; regular smoker = Yes, I smoke; occasional smoker = all other answers. |
Health shocks (Serious personal illness in the last 12 months) | Binary | Yes = 1 No = 0 |
Financial distress (Major worsening of finances) | Binary | Yes = 1 No = 0 |
Financial risk-taking attitude | Ordinal | Three categories: never takes risk, takes average risks and takes sizeable risks. |
Remoteness | Binary | Two categories: Urban and rural. Using ‘ASGC 2001 Section of State’ variable in the HILDA data as suggested by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. |
Full time students | Binary | Yes = 1 No = 0 |