Discrimination perceived by elderly adults in the use of health services: an integrative review

This paper analyzes the current evi-dence on discrimination perceived by elderly adults (> 50 years) in the use of health services and identifies factors associated with this discri-minatory experience. It involved an integrative literature review, carried out on the Biblioteca Virtual de Saude, CINAHL, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science search websites, in June/2021. The key words used were social discrimination or ageism; middle-aged, or aged 80 and over or elderly; health services or health services for the elderly, including synonyms, in Portuguese, En-glish, and Spanish. The search strategy identified 1,165 articles; 19 met the eligibility and inclusion criteria and were included in this integrative re-view. They comprise quantitative and qualitative studies published between 2002 and 2021; about 60% carried out in the United States and Austra-lia. The prevalence of discrimination in the use of health services ranged from 2% to 42%. The report of discriminatory practices was associated with ethnic-racial characteristics, sex, age, sexual orientation, physical appearance, and social class. By giving visibility to the theme, this work aims to stimulate the definition of concrete ways to tack-le discrimination, in an attempt to interrupt the perpetration of inequities in the health care area.