Gender, Health, and Physician Visits Among Adults in the United States

Few studies have examined how health system, financial, social structure, or health characteristics affect the use of health services differentially by gender. Rather, the majority of studies on health behaviors assume that gender represents a set of individual differences. One notable exception is a small set of reports on the use of services by female veterans.1–3 Recently, a study found gender differences in the contributions of employment, having children, and socioeconomic factors to health care access, with access measured by whether the individual had a usual source of care and health insurance coverage.4 Of particular concern is whether there are gender differences in the likelihood of visiting a physician by disease or disorder.5,6 In addition, individuals who have a constellation of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, undoubtedly are more likely to visit a physician than persons who have less severe health conditions. Yet it is also plausible that service use differs not only according to gender, but by both gender and health status. Using a nationally representative data set, we examined determinants of gender differences in physician visits by employing different levels of control for health status.