Factors associated with postponed health checkups during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

• Published in: Public health (London) 2021-05, Vol.194, p.36-41
• Main Authors: Hajek, A., De Bock, F., Kretzler, B., König, H.-H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chronic illnesses; Confidence intervals; Coronavirus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; General medical examination; Health status; Original Research; Pandemics; Physical examinations; Preventive health examination; Routine health checkups; Screening; Social factors; Socioeconomic data; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 0033-3506; 1476-5616
• DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.02.023

The COVID-19 pandemic has serious social, economic and health consequences. Particularly in these times, it is important to maintain individual health. Therefore, it is important to take part in routine health checkups. Consequently, our objective was to describe the frequency and to identify the determinants of postponed routine health checkups. Cross-sectional data from the nationally representative online-survey “COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring in Germany (COSMO)” was used (wave 17; July 2020). In sum, 974 individuals were included in our analytical sample (average age was 45.9 years, SD: 16.5, 18–74 years). Postponed routine health checkups (yes or no) since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed. More than 16% of the individuals reported postponed routine health checkups in the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly, individuals aged 30–49 years had postponed health checkups (21%). The probability of postponed health checkups was positively associated with the presence of chronic diseases (odds ratio [OR]: 1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15–2.47), higher affect regarding COVID-19 (OR: 1.44, 95%-CI: 1.16–1.78), and higher presumed severity of COVID-19 (OR: 1.17, 95%-CI: 1.01–1.35), whereas the outcome measure was not associated with socioeconomic factors. Data showed that a sizeable part (about one of six individuals) of the population reported postponed routine health checkups due to the COVID-19 pandemic between March and July 2020. Postponed checkups should not be neglected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals at risk for postponed health checkups should be appropriately addressed.