Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Health Shocks and Initiation of Use of Preventive Services Among Older Adults

Health Shocks and Initiation of Use of Preventive Services Among Older Adults This article examines whether adverse changes to health or functioning serve as an impetus to begin using preventive services among older individuals with a history of non-use. Using data from the 1998-2008 Health and Retirement Study, the use of mammograms, pap smears, prostate cancer screenings, cholesterol checks, and flu shots is examined among 2,975 self-reported non-users of such services. Older women who experience a health shock are 1.86, 1.50, 1.79, and 1.46 times more likely to begin getting mammograms, pap smears, cholesterol checks, and flu shots, respectively. Older men who experience a health shock are 2.24, 2.72, and 1.64 times more likely to begin getting prostate cancer screenings, cholesterol checks, and flu shots, respectively. All of these results are statistically significant. Thus, older adults often improve their health behaviors after experiencing an adverse health event. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Applied Gerontology SAGE

Health Shocks and Initiation of Use of Preventive Services Among Older Adults

Journal of Applied Gerontology , Volume 37 (7): 25 – Jul 1, 2018

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/health-shocks-and-initiation-of-use-of-preventive-services-among-older-U7xKXKmbRY

References (37)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016
ISSN
0733-4648
eISSN
1552-4523
DOI
10.1177/0733464816657474
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article examines whether adverse changes to health or functioning serve as an impetus to begin using preventive services among older individuals with a history of non-use. Using data from the 1998-2008 Health and Retirement Study, the use of mammograms, pap smears, prostate cancer screenings, cholesterol checks, and flu shots is examined among 2,975 self-reported non-users of such services. Older women who experience a health shock are 1.86, 1.50, 1.79, and 1.46 times more likely to begin getting mammograms, pap smears, cholesterol checks, and flu shots, respectively. Older men who experience a health shock are 2.24, 2.72, and 1.64 times more likely to begin getting prostate cancer screenings, cholesterol checks, and flu shots, respectively. All of these results are statistically significant. Thus, older adults often improve their health behaviors after experiencing an adverse health event.

Journal

Journal of Applied GerontologySAGE

Published: Jul 1, 2018

There are no references for this article.