Health status and utilisation of the healthcare system by homeless and non‐homeless people in Vienna

This case–control study describes the health situation, internal and external resources, and utilisation of healthcare facilities by a marginalised population consisting of homeless people in Vienna, Austria, compared with a non‐homeless control population. Among the homeless group, participants lived in halfway houses (70%) or permanent housing (30%) in Vienna. Personal interviews were conducted in July 2010 with 66 homeless individuals, and their data were compared with data from non‐homeless subjects from the Austrian Health Interview Survey using conditional logistic regression. Compared with the control group, homeless persons suffered more often from chronic diseases (P < 0.001) and rated their health considerably lower than the comparison group (P < 0.001). Homeless people suffered significantly more often from psychiatric disorders, respiratory diseases, hypertension (P < 0.001), digestive system diseases (P = 0.002) and heart diseases (P = 0.015) in comparison with the control group. Additionally, among homeless and non‐homeless individuals, the former more often consulted a general practitioner in a period of 28 days (P = 0.002). A significantly greater proportion of homeless people did not have any teeth (P = 0.024) and smoked significantly more (P = 0.002). The results demonstrate deficits in the areas of health, health behaviour, and individual and social resources of homeless people, even though homeless people seek medical care at a higher rate than controls. Continuing health promotion projects for this high‐risk group and the strengthening of social resources are recommended.