PREVENTIVE HEALTH EXAMINATIONS ACCORDING TO THE SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION

Abstract

Objective - to assess how individuals’ participation in preventive health screening programs (blood pressure, mammography, cervical smear, cholesterol) is related to the individual’s socioeconomic characteristics (gender, education, economic activity status, income).
Methodology - the study analyzed data from the 2019 Lithuanian Population Health Survey of the State Data Agency. The applied analysis methods were descriptive statistics, univariate and multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc test.
Results - economic activity status was the most important factor differentiating participation in preventive screening: employed individuals were screened on average at an earlier age than old-age pensioners or persons not working due to disability. Education was associated only with cholesterol screening. Income was not a significant factor overall, but a slight trend was found in the female group that women with higher incomes had their blood pressure checked at an earlier age compared to those with lower incomes.
Conclusions - the most important factor influencing the performance of preventive health examinations is economic activity status. The influence of education is limited and was related only to the performance of cholesterol testing. Income was not significant for the performance of preventive health examinations. None of the studied socioeconomic characteristics was related to the performance of cervical smear testing.