AUTHOR=Ewald Louisa , Bellettiere John , Farag Tamer H. , Lee Kristina M. , Palani Sidhartha , Castro Emma , Deen Amanda , Gillespie Catherine W. , Huntley Bethany M. , Tracy Alison , Haensch Anna-Carolina , Kreuter Frauke , Weber Wiebke , Zins Stefan , Motte-Kerr Wichada La , Li Yao , Stewart Kathleen , Gakidou Emmanuela , Mokdad Ali H. 

TITLE=Association Between Trust in Health Care Professionals and Health Care Access: Insights From an Online Survey Across 21 Countries

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 70 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2025.1607884

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2025.1607884

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=Objectives: Trust in health care professionals and access to timely care impact health outcomes. This study evaluates the association between trust and health care delays using data from 621,000 individuals across 21 countries. Results: Results show that among the 50.4% of respondents who reported medical conditions, 44.5% experienced delays in accessing health care. Additionally, 44.1% of respondents reported lack of trust in health care professionals. Those who trusted health care professionals had significantly lower odds to postpone seeking medical care. Trust was most strongly associated with delays in the United Kingdom (OR = 0.373, 95% CI = 0.273 to 0.510), while South Africa had the smallest association (OR = 0.762, 95% CI = 0.582 to 0.997).Conclusion: Findings suggest the importance of trust in influencing health care-seeking behaviors, though the causal direction warrants further research. These findings emphasize a need for targeted strategies to build and sustain trust in health care relationships as well as enhancing health care access.