Variations of health check attendance in later life: results from a British birth cohort study

Wilson, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4709-7260, Kuh, Diana and Stafford, Mai 2019. Variations of health check attendance in later life: results from a British birth cohort study. BMC Public Health 19 , 1518. 10.1186/s12889-019-7875-x

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Abstract

Background:Older adults are advised to attend a number of preventive health checks to preserve health andidentify risk factors for disease. Previous research has identified a number of health and social factors, labelled aspredisposing, enabling and need factors, using Andersen’s Behavioural Model of Health Service Use, that areassociated with health care utilisation. We aimed to assess associations between factors from childhood andadulthood, and health check attendance in later life in a British birth cohort study.Methods:For 2370 study members from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), healthcheck attendance was assessed at age 68. Study members were asked if they: attended blood pressure andcholesterol checks, had their eyes tested, received the influenza vaccine, attended colon cancer screening anddental checks. Health and social factors from childhood and adulthood were used in binomial regression models totest associations with health check attendance in men and women.Results:Health check attendance was high; 41% reported attending all six health checks within the recommendedtime frame. In multivariable models, being a non-smoker and having more health conditions in adulthood wereassociated with greater health check attendance in men and women. In women, childhood socioeconomicadvantage, being more physically active in midlife and previously attending screening procedures, and in men,greater self-organisation in adolescence and being married were associated with attending more health checks inlater life, following adjustments for childhood and adulthood factors.Conclusions:A number of predisposing, enabling and need factors from childhood and adulthood were found tobe associated with health check attendance at age 68, demonstrating the relevance of applying a life courseperspective to Andersen’s model in investigating health check attendance in later life. Health related factors werefound to be stronger correlates of health check attendance than socioeconomic factors.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Publisher:	BMC
ISSN:	1471-2458
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 February 2020
Date of Acceptance:	31 October 2019
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 08:01
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/129486

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