IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujhec/v26y2025i2d10.1007_s10198-024-01708-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Migration-related determinants of health-care service utilization among persons with a direct migration background in Germany: an exploratory study based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Grochtdreis

    (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf)

  • Hans-Helmut König

    (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf)

  • Judith Dams

    (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf)

Abstract

Background It is known that the health-care service utilization in primary care of persons with a direct migration background is lower compared to non-migrants. However, potential migration-related determinants of health-care service utilization are not known. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the associations between health-care service utilization and migration-related characteristics of persons with a direct migration background in Germany. Methods The migration samples (M1 and M2) of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) were used as the sample for this study. Associations between the number of visits to primary care physicians in the previous three months and migration-related characteristics were examined using generalized linear models. Associations between the hospitalization within one year and migration-related characteristics were examined using logit models. Results The mean number of visits to primary care physicians was about 2, and 8% of persons were hospitalized. Being born in a country other than Russia was associated with a higher number of visits to primary care physicians (+ 26% to + 34%). Both, a very strong connectedness with the country of birth and very good oral German language skills were associated with higher number of visits to primary care physicians (both + 13%) compared to no connectedness and fairly bad oral German language skills. Conclusion Only the country of birth, connectedness with the country of birth and oral German language skills may be migration-related determinants of health-care service utilization with regard to the number of visits to primary care physicians by persons with a direct migration background in Germany. With regard to hospitalization, no potential migration-related determinants of health-care service utilization could be identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Grochtdreis & Hans-Helmut König & Judith Dams, 2025. "Migration-related determinants of health-care service utilization among persons with a direct migration background in Germany: an exploratory study based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 26(2), pages 313-323, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:26:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10198-024-01708-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-024-01708-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10198-024-01708-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10198-024-01708-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health-care service utilization; Social determinants; Surveys and questionnaires; Transients and migrants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:26:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10198-024-01708-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.