EVALUATION OF UNMET HEALTH NEEDS IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES: 2020-2021

Abstract

The objective of the study. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of unmet health needs in European Union countries on Healthy Life Expectancy in 2020-2021 and determine the grouping of countries in this period. Material and methods. The study used unmet health needs data from the Eurostat database. Two models were created by path analysis using structural equation modeling. The impact of unmet health needs on life expectancy in 2020-2021 was evaluated. The cluster analysis grouped the European Union countries according to their unmet health needs. Results. The primary factor with the highest average contributing to unmet health needs in 2020-2021 was the absence of a requirement to report health issues. Among the reasons for postponing health needs in 2020-2021, the criterion of “absence of specialists” was determined to be the criterion with the lowest average. According to the cluster analysis, the most similar countries are the Netherlands and Austria, Albania and Serbia, while the least similar are Bulgaria and Belgium, Estonia and Belgium. Conclusions. During the pandemic, individuals gave up receiving health services due to their fear of catching COVID-19. It has been determined that unmet health needs did not affect life expectancy for 2020. In 2021, there was a statistically significant relationship between the “no need to report” unmet health need criterion and Healthy Life Year Expectancy. This study determined the “expensive, remote and transportation” criterion, which has the second highest average among the reasons for unmet health needs. © 2024 Balkan Medical Union.