ABSTRACT
Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between health checkups, cervical cancer screenings, and breast cancer screenings (collectively referred to as wellness examinations) of wives and health checkups of their husbands. We aimed to develop strategies to encourage wellness examinations among married individuals in Japan. Methods: This study used the 2019 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions, focusing on married couples aged 40-64. We analyzed the percentage of wives undergoing wellness examinations, grouped based on whether their husbands had undergone health checkups. Subsequently, multivariable modified Poisson regression analysis was performed considering sociodemographic and health-related factors. All analyses considered medical insurance of wives because wellness examination methods varied depending on medical insurance type. Results: The sample comprised 40,560 couples undergoing health checkups, 39,870 undergoing cervical cancer screening, and 39,895 undergoing breast cancer screening. Regardless of the medical insurance type of the wife, a significant positive association was observed between the wellness examination of wives and the health checkup of husbands across all age groups. After adjusting for covariates, prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals) for wives whose husbands underwent health checkups were 2.24 (2.09-2.40) for national health insurance, 1.18 (1.16-1.21) for employee insurance (employee), and 1.53 (1.44-1.63) for employee insurance (family) for health checkups. Similar trends were observed in cervical and breast cancer screening. Conclusions: Wellness examinations of wives were associated with those of their husbands, suggesting that couples often share similar health-seeking behaviors. Hence, targeted interventions are important for couples who do not undergo wellness examinations.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The participation rate for breast cancer screening remains to be suboptimal in Japan. Therefore, it is important to identify factors associated with non-participation and identify people at high risk for non-participation. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional study using the data of women aged 40-74 years from the 2016 and 2019 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions. We selected candidate predictor variables from the survey sheets and conducted a multivariable logistic regression for non-participation in breast cancer screening for the past 2 years. In addition, using data from 2016, we created an integer risk score for non-participation and tested its predictive performance in 2019. RESULTS: The proportion of participants in breast cancer screening in 2016 and 2019 were 46.7% (50,177/107,513) and 48.7% (49,498/101,716), respectively. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, age over 50 years, single/divorced/widowed, lower education level, lower household expenditure, being insured for National Health Insurance, employed to small/middle scale company, non-regularly employed, current smoker, never/quit drinking or middle/high-risk drinking, lower self-rated health status, higher Kessler Psychological Distress Scale score, non-participation in the annual health checkups for diseases other than cancer, not constantly visiting hospitals/clinics showed a positive association with non-participation. The 9-item risk score (age, marital status, education, health insurance plan, employment, smoking, drinking, non-participation in the annual health checkups for diseases other than cancer, and not constantly visiting hospitals/clinics) and 3-item risk score (age, health insurance plan, non-participation in the annual health checkups for diseases other than cancer) showed the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.744 and 0.720, respectively. CONCLUSION: We identified factors associated with non-participation in breast cancer screening. The simple risk score would be useful for public health sectors to identify people at risk for non-participation.
