Cardiovascular diseases related mortality attributes to approximately one fourth of mortality in Korea, and management of chronic diseases is essential for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Through the health screening program, early detection and prevention of chronic disease are made possible, and this will improve the health status of examinees. In the current national health examination (NHE), counseling and continuous management after NHE have not been properly made. We aimed to investigate examinees’ knowledge of the result form of NHE in order to find the ways of improvement.
We recruited 120 examinees, who have undergone general health examination and life turning point health examination (LTPHE), and conducted survey from January 7, 2016 to January 26, 2016. Participants answered questionnaires regarding demographic characteristics, health screening related factors, and their knowledge and attitude towards NHE. Answers were converted to Likert scale, and student t-test, one-way ANOVA, and linear regression models were used for the analyses.
Examinees’ knowledge of the result form was lowest in the blood test category. When age and type of institution were adjusted, the examinees in their 60s had significantly lower knowledge of all the categories of result forms except urine test in comparison to the younger examinees. When type of institutions were compared, examinees, who had undergone NHE in health screening clinics, had significantly lower knowledge of several categories of result forms in comparison to those who had undergone NHE in private clinics and general hospitals. Examinees’ knowledge of the LTPHE result form was lowest in categories of “mild cognitive impairment and dementia” and “fall down and voiding difficulty.”
The result form of NHE should be revised so that examinees in old age can easily understand. Examinees’ knowledge of the result form was lower in health screening clinic; thus, quality of health screening clinic should be improved for continuous care after NHE.
Basic characteristics of 120 examinees of NHE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Age, y | |
| 40-49 | 46 (38.3) |
| 50-59 | 34 (28.3) |
| 60-69 | 40 (33.3) |
| Sex | |
| Men | 56 (46.7) |
| Women | 64 (53.3) |
| Smoking status | |
| Nonsmoker | 85 (70.8) |
| Smoker | 35 (29.2) |
| Drinking status | |
| Nondrinker | 37 (30.8) |
| Drinker | 83 (69.2) |
| Type of NHE | |
| Life turning point health examination | 38 (31.7) |
| General health examination | 82 (68.3) |
| Type of institution | |
| Private clinic | 30 (25.0) |
| Health screening clinic | 40 (33.3) |
| General hospital | 29 (24.2) |
| University Hospital | 11 (9.2) |
| Visiting health screening program | 9 (7.5) |
| Others | 1 (0.8) |
| Experience of NHE | |
| Once | 15 (12.5) |
| More than once | 105 (87.5) |
| Purpose of undergoing NHE | |
| Disease prevention | 95 (79.8) |
| Management of comorbidities | 31 (26.1) |
| Request from government or workplace | 63 (52.9) |
| Disadvantage when not undergoing NHE | 29 (24.4) |
Abbreviation: NHE, national health examination. Values are presented as n (%). Missing data were excluded.
NHE examinees’ responses whether counseling helped to improve lifestyles
| Yes | No | |
|---|---|---|
| Counseling for physical activity | 35 (83.3) | 7 (16.7) |
| Counseling for drinking | 10 (62.5) | 6 (37.5) |
| Counseling for obesity | 6 (40.0) | 9 (60.0) |
| Counseling for smoking | 2 (20.0) | 8 (80.0) |
Abbreviation: NHE, national health examination. Values are presented as n (%).
Mean Likert scores of examinees’ knowledge of the NHE result form and responses after the NHE
| Value | |
|---|---|
| Examinees’ knowledge of the NHE result form | |
| General health examination | |
| Visual, auditory abnormality | 4.03 (0.83) |
| Obesity | 3.92 (0.74) |
| Hypertension | 3.82 (0.81) |
| Urine test Chest X-ray | 3.68 (0.85) 3.49 (0.76) |
| Blood test | 3.36 (0.81) |
| Health risk assessment | |
| Disease specific health risk | 3.88 (0.69) |
| Health risk identification | 3.74 (0.80) |
| Health risk modification | 3.64 (0.89) |
| Whether examinees felt necessary for lifestyle modification | |
| Smoking cessation | 3.45 (1.29) |
| Physical activity | 3.42 (1.40) |
| Alcohol consumption | 2.72 (1.27) |
| Whether life turning point health examination helped to evaluate health status | |
| Osteoporosis risk assessment | 4.60 (0.84) |
| Mild cognitive impairment and dementia Physical function of the elderly | 4.10 (1.21) 4.00 (1.21) |
| Fall down and voiding difficulty | 3.90 (1.21) |
| Mood status | 3.74 (1.35) |
Abbreviation: NHE, national health examination. Values are presented as mean (standard deviation). Missing data were excluded.
Examinees’ knowledge of the result form of life turning point health examination
| Good | Bad | |
|---|---|---|
| Osteoporosis risk assessment | 10 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Mood status | 37 (97.4) | 1 (2.6) |
| Physical function of the elderly | 18 (90.0) | 2 (10.0) |
| Fall down and voiding difficulty | 17 (85.0) | 3 (15.0) |
| Mild cognitive impairment and dementia | 17 (85.0) | 3 (15.0) |
Values are presented as n (%).
Mean Likert scores of examinees’ knowledge of the NHE result form according to health screening related factors
| Age | Sex | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40-49 | 50-59 | 60-69 | Mean | Women | ||||||
| Mean (SD) | Ref |
Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ||||||
| General health examination | ||||||||||
| Obesity | 4.04 (0.67) |
- | 4.12 (0.64) |
0.398 | 3.60 (0.81) |
0.033 | 0.003 | 3.89 (0.73) | 3.94 (0.75) | 0.743 |
| Hypertension | 3.93 (0.77) | - | 3.97 (0.67) | 0.950 | 3.55 (0.90) | 0.034 | 0.036 | 3.91 (0.72) | 3.73 (0.88) | 0.235 |
| Visual, auditory abnormality | 4.24 (0.74) |
- | 4.18 (0.63) |
0.701 | 3.65 (0.98) |
0.001 | 0.002 | 4.11 (0.76) | 3.95 (0.90) | 0.315 |
| Blood test | 3.52 (0.86) |
- | 3.56 (0.66) |
0.900 | 3.00 (0.75) |
0.003 | 0.002 | 3.30 (0.76) | 3.41 (0.85) | 0.489 |
| Urine test Chest X-ray | 3.70 (0.87) 3.63 (0.77) |
- - | 3.79 (0.81) 3.65 (0.60) |
0.369 0.638 | 3.58 (0.87) 3.20 (0.79) |
0.904 0.034 | 0.543 0.010 | 3.70 (0.81) 3.59 (0.73) | 3.67 (0.89) 3.41 (0.77) | 0.875 0.187 |
| Health risk assessment | ||||||||||
| Disease specific health risk | 3.98 (0.65) |
4.09 (0.62) |
3.58 (0.71) |
0.002 | 3.93 (0.68) | 3.83 (0.70) | 0.431 | |||
| Health risk identification | 3.91 (0.76) |
3.88 (0.77) |
3.43 (0.81) |
0.008 | 3.79 (0.82) | 3.70 (0.79) | 0.577 | |||
| Health risk modification | 3.83 (0.82) |
3.76 (0.82) |
3.33 (0.94) |
0.020 | 3.68 (0.86) | 3.61 (0.92) | 0.672 | |||
| Institution | Experience | |||||||||
| Health screening clinic | Private clinic | General hospital | Once | More than once | ||||||
| Mean (SD) | Ref |
Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | Mean (SD) | ||||||
| General health examination | ||||||||||
| Obesity | 3.73 (0.78) | - | 3.90 (0.84) | 0.353 | 4.00 (0.60) | 0.108 | 0.249 | 3.87 (0.64) | 3.92 (0.76) | 0.781 |
| Hypertension | 3.53 (0.78) |
- | 3.90 (0.88) |
0.058 | 4.00 (0.72) |
0.008 | 0.022 | 3.53 (0.92) | 3.86 (0.79) | 0.148 |
| Visual, auditory abnormality | 3.55 (0.78) |
- | 4.23 (0.90) |
<0.001 | 4.25 (0.67) |
<0.001 | <0.001 | 3.93 (0.96) | 4.04 (0.82) | 0.651 |
| Blood test | 3.13 (0.72) | - | 3.40 (0.81) | 0.163 | 3.50 (0.82) | 0.029 | 0.093 | 3.13 (0.74) | 3.39 (0.81) | 0.250 |
| Urine test | 3.28 (0.72) |
- | 4.00 (0.91) |
<0.001 | 3.78 (0.80) |
0.009 | 0.001 | 3.33 (0.90) | 3.73 (0.84) | 0.088 |
| Chest X-ray | 3.15 (0.77) |
- | 3.57 (0.68) |
0.017 | 3.65 (0.66) |
0.002 | 0.005 | 3.33 (0.82) | 3.51 (0.75) | 0.388 |
| Health risk assessment | ||||||||||
| Disease specific health risk | 3.80 (0.79) | 3.90 (0.71) | 3.83 (0.59) | 0.834 | 3.87 (0.74) | 3.88 (0.69) | 0.961 | |||
| Health risk identification | 3.68 (0.89) | 3.53 (0.78) | 3.83 (0.71) | 0.318 | 3.93 (0.70) | 3.71 (0.82) | 0.326 | |||
| Health risk modification | 3.60 (0.98) | 3.57 (0.77) | 3.63 (0.90) | 0.965 | 3.67 (0.90) | 3.64 (0.89) | 0.908 | |||
Abbreviations: NHE, national health examination; SD, standard deviation. Post-hoc analysis:
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Values were obtained from linear regression models. Age group and institution were adjusted in the linear regression analyses.