Benefits of knowing own health status: effects of health check-ups on health behaviours and labour participation

ABSTRACT

Lifestyle-related diseases account for a large proportion of mortality rates and healthcare expenses. These diseases are largely preventable with behavioural changes, but people often do not have adequate information to change their risky health behaviours. This study, for the first time, examines the extent to which health check-ups, which provide relevant information, affect health behaviours and labour outcomes of people with lifestyle-related diseases. Using nationally representative data on health and socioeconomic status in Japan, this study employs propensity score matching to compare two samples with similar attributes who had or had not received health check-ups. The results show that people who had health check-ups exhibit healthier behaviours and longer working hours than people who had not. Considering their cost and the benefits derived from resultant increases in annual income, health check-ups can be regarded as cost-effective.

KEYWORDS:

• Health check-up
• lifestyle-related diseases
• health behaviours
• labour participation
• Japan

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• I18
• I10
• I19

Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate Rong Fu, Shuhei Kaneko, and Masato Oikawa for extensive discussions and suggestions in the seminar hosted by Waseda Institute of Social and Human Capital Studies. We also thank Yoko Yamamoto for her administrative support.

This research has received official approval to use secondary data from the Statistics and Information Department of the MHLW under Tohatsu-0507-3 as of 7 May 2018. The views and opinions expressed by the independent authors in this article are provided in their personal capacity and are their sole responsibility.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest associated with this study.

Additional information

Funding

This study received financial support from the Waseda University Research Initiatives [entitled “Empirical and theoretical research for social welfare in sustainable society – Inheritance of human capital beyond ‘an individual’ and ‘a generation’” (PI: Haruko Noguchi)]; Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Project [entitled “Effects of the prevention policy of lifestyle related disease on labor productivity and macro economy from viewpoint of cost-effective analysis” (PI: Haruko Noguchi)].