Utilisation of primary healthcare services by patients with hypertension before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Turku, Finland—are digital services creating disparity?

Abstract

<h3>Aims:</h3><p>The objective of the study was to assess differences in the accessibility of general practitioner (GP office visits, telephone contacts and electronic communication for patients with hypertension before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in primary healthcare.</p><h3>Methods:</h3><p>From the primary healthcare register of the city of Turku in Southwestern Finland, subjects with the diagnosis of hypertension were identified. Data of GP office visits, telephone contacts, electronic communication, concomitant cardiometabolic diseases, low density lipoprotein and glomerular filtration rate were gathered from the hypertensive patients. The follow-up period was from 2019 to 2022.</p><h3>Results:</h3><p>The number of patients with hypertension decreased between the years 2019 and 2020 and again increased in 2021 to the 2019 level. Electronic communication increased steadily from 2019 to 2022, whereas telephone contacts decreased. A higher number of telephone contacts and higher number of electronic communication were associated with higher number of office visits. Elderly subjects used less electronic communication than younger subjects and the difference grew larger during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><h3>Conclusions:</h3><p>Elderly subjects with hypertension use digital services in primary healthcare less than their younger counterparts. Digital technologies may create structural inequality in access to, and availability of, primary healthcare services.</p>