[Financial sacrifice and purchasing capacity for medicines in primary care: evidence from a municipality in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

Authors

Alfonso Jesús Gil-López, Letícia Figueira de Castro, Elaine Silva Miranda, Gabriela Silva de Carvalho, Gabriela Bittencourt Gonzalez Mosegui

Published in

Cadernos de saude publica. Volume 42. Pages e00231825. Epub Jul 27, 2026.

Abstract

This study analyzed the prevalence and factors associated with financial sacrifice related to access to medicines in primary care users in a municipality in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2023 with 290 users of primary care units in Niterói (distributed among Polyclinics, the Family Medical Program, and Psychosocial Care Centers). Financial sacrifice was defined as the need to postpone essential purchases, take out loans, or sell goods to pay for health expenses. Structured questionnaires were applied based on validated methods to evaluate the pharmaceutical sector. Descriptive analyses and binary logistic regression were performed with a 5% significance level. The prevalence of financial sacrifice totaled 35.5% (95%CI: 30.2-41.0), with no significant difference between types of service (p = 0.416). Hospital admission was the only factor independently associated with the outcome (OR = 2.89; 95%CI: 1.05-7.94; p = 0.04). This study found that 6.2% of interviewees reported expenses with medication, with no significant association with financial sacrifice. The most frequent coping strategies referred to bill postponement (14.8%) and formal or informal indebtedness (12.7%), followed by reduction in food purchases (5.2%). Financial sacrifice affects more than a third of primary care users, with hospital admissions being the main associated factor. These findings highlight financial protection gaps in the Brazilian Unified National Health System and reinforce the need to strengthen policies for the public provision of medication and protection against catastrophic expenditures.

PMID:
42524989
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.