Keywords
Aged
Demographic Factors
Abstract
Objective: The growing population of the elderly, the rising costs of medical care and the low use of preventive services are three factors that highlight the importance of using preventive health care services in the Iranian population. This study aimed to determine the status of the use of preventive care services and its affecting socio-demographic factors in the elderly referring to health centers.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, a number of 160 elderly people referring to health centers in East Guilan, Iran were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. Utilization of preventive care services and socio-demographic factors were assessed using a questionnaire.
Results: The highest and the lowest utilization rates of preventive care services among study participants were related to the blood pressure control (96.9%) and colonoscopy (17.5%), respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that only income had a significant association with performing fasting blood sugar test (P=0.004), blood cholesterol test (P=0.004), and blood pressure control test (P=0.013). Also, the associations between having an underlying disease and performing fasting blood sugar test (P=0.032) and blood pressure control test (P=0.002), the association between gender and performing the bone mineral density test (P<0.001), and the association between occupation and performing Pap-smear test (P=0.011), were statistically significant.
Conclusion: The utilization rates of screening tests for most cancers, including gastrointestinal cancers, were low. Since, there were a significant association between income, disease, gender and occupation with the utilization of some preventive care services, considering them in health centers’ preventive care program design might be useful.
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