International journal of epidemiology
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Several studies have reported differences in health care utilization by marital status, but usually only controlling for age and sex. Our study aimed at answering the questions: 1) To what extent are differences in health care utilization by marital status due to confounding by socio-demographic variables other than age and sex? and 2) To what extent are these differences due to differences in health status by marital status? ⋯ There are differences in health care utilization by marital status which are not due to confounding by other socio-demographic variables or differences in health status. Further investigation of these differences is necessary, and is likely to benefit from inclusion of socio-psychological variables. Living arrangements should also be included in these future analyses.