Characteristics of attenders and non-attenders at health examinations for ischaemic heart disease in general practice

Abstract

Objective - To clarify the importance of health beliefs and some socio-demographic data for accepting an invitation to take part in a health examination by comparing attenders and non-attenders with respect to health beliefs and social status.

Design - Multipractice study including questionnaires for men.

Settings - 65 GPs in two areas in the county of Aarhus, Denmark, invited 2452 40-49 year old men to a health examination for ischaemic heart disease. the examination was free in one area, whereas there was a fee in the other. All 1272 attenders and 423/1180 non-attenders completed the questionnaire.

Results - the attendance rate was 66% in the area with free examination and 37% in the fee-paying area. the attendance was significantly higher for cohabitants than for single men in both areas. There was a slightly higher attendance of men with an occupational training in both areas, but the difference was not significant. in general, all agreed that IHD is a serious disease, and that it can be prevented by a personal effort. There were only minor differences in the attenders’ and non-attenders’ health beliefs.

Conclusion - the main conclusion is that 40-49 year old men are in general concerned about IHD. Whether they want to have a health examination for IHD depends mainly on its availability (exemplified here as fee versus free), since the differences were small with respect to health beliefs between attenders and non-attenders.

Key Words:

• general practice
• health examinations
• attendance rate
• health beliefs
• preventive medicine