DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2093556/v1
Periodic health checkup (PHC) has been recognized as a key instrument in the practice of preventive healthcare since the early 1900s and has been supported for maintaining health and preventing diseases, however, it has never been shown to be economical. Periodic Health Checkups (PHC), a primary level of care provided by healthcare facilities to prevent and manage several chronic diseases, PHCs comprise history-taking, clinical examination, and laboratory investigations in which even asymptomatic people of any age can participate. Disease outcomes and activities connected to health are correlated with socioeconomic level, Low socioeconomic level people are more susceptible to harmful living conditions, obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other health problems, all of which have a detrimental impact on their quality of life. Moreover, because to their limited exposure to hospitals for basic healthcare services, socioeconomic inequality makes it difficult for such people to benefit from periodic health check-up programs. Low socioeconomic status people have been found to be less likely to participate in Periodic health examinations. Socioeconomic/demographic characteristics also include factors like social class, employment status, educational attainment, and the number of independent years of study. Having health insurance can increase these individuals' likelihood of taking part in the periodic health checkups, here we hope to analyze and evaluate public knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions related various socioeconomic conditions and periodic health checkups through this research study.
In the last three decades, the drivers for progress have accelerated, though standards for safer and efficient practices in the health profession have been changing continuously for a long time. There is a special need for a continuous and authoritative assessment of standards for both preventive and therapeutic approaches nowadays due to the significant increase of medical knowledge and the increasing application of technology to medicine, Some of these approaches fall under the broad heading ‘Periodic Health Checkup’ (PHC) (1).
Periodic Health Check-up (PHC) includes history-taking, physical examination, and laboratory testing, which is a standard primary care procedure offered by medical facilities to all individuals of various ages even for the non-complaining people (2). To manage chronic diseases, which take the lives of 9 million individuals under the age of 60 each year worldwide, it is essential to get PHC (2), Chronic diseases, such as cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes mellitus etc., are long-lasting and typically proceed slowly; The detection of a particular illness and the improvement of overall wellbeing are main objectives of the PHC (1). People with higher levels of education are more likely to recognize the value of preventative care and PHC (3). It is unclear how useful PHC are in preventing disease. Even so, the PHC has developed into a well-established health service because both doctors and the general public believe in its advantages (1). PHC is useful and successful in finding new instances and avoiding serious problems from early management, but it could also be risky because all forms of health examination have the potential to be harmful for example a false-positive test can result in more intrusive diagnostic tests along with that false-negative results could give patients a false impression of their current health condition and put off necessary medical care (2). The frequency of PHC varies from nation to nation on a global scale. Men receive periodic health checkups at a rate of 50.8% in Germany, while women receive them at a rate of 49.8% (4). Only 34.3% of Saudi Arabia's middle-aged and aged people receive PHC (5).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60% of all deaths in India are caused by chronic diseases, placing India very high among the countries afflicted by the rising tide of premature deaths (6). Age, high socioeconomic status, health insurance, and strong social support are all aspects that make it easier to utilize PHC services (7); According to a study, having health insurance encourages people to seek out PHC services more frequently (8). Socioeconomic status is linked to disease outcomes and health-related activities. People with low socioeconomic status are more likely to live in unhealthy environments and are more prone to experience obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues, all of which have negative effects on their quality of life, Additionally, socioeconomic disadvantage makes it challenging for those people to take advantage of health check-up programs due to limited access to hospitals for medical care (9). Low socioeconomic status people were shown to be less likely to attend health checks, socio-economic/demographic characteristics also includes factors like Social class, employment status, degree of education, and the number of independent years of study (10), key risk factors including physical inactivity, obesity, smoking and psychological stress are more frequent in lower socioeconomic categories than in higher socioeconomic groups (7). Individuals who accept an offer to a health check typically have greater socioeconomic level, decreased cardiovascular risk, decreased cardiovascular morbidity, and decreased cardiovascular mortality therefore, PHC might not reach individuals who most need prevention, When compared to those who did attend health checkups, those who didn't were statistically more likely to be younger, male, of lower socioeconomic status, work in administrative fields, hold non-managerial positions, engage in shift work, lead unhealthy lifestyles, and not have a history of chronic conditions (11)(12). Around 3 crore Indians fall below the poverty line by paying for medical care out of their own pockets per year, the capability of the family to get basic necessities is affected across generations, which has an impact on their long-term economic prospects. The poorest 10% of the population rely on asset sales or borrowing. Over 70% of the overall cost of healthcare is covered out of pocket by the patient. The remaining is probably funded by the Government and insurance companies (6). People living in quickly developing nations like India have witnessed a substantial increase in socioeconomic disparities over the past 20 years, health status and mortality, access to health services, and the standard of clinical care are the main topics of the current health literature on socio-economic disparities in India. There hasn't been much discussion of socioeconomic differences in the responsiveness of the healthcare system. Contrasting access to high-quality healthcare could arise from: More poor people than wealthier people use public health facilities and being restricted to health facilities that are physically close to them because of the high expense of transportation and missed opportunities when travelling (13).
By doing this research we want to compare and classify knowledge attitude and perception of general public regarding different socio-economic status about periodic health check-up.
Study Design: Our study is Prospective Cross-Sectional Study
Research Design: Summary statistics and Quantitative Analysis
Data Type: Primary Mode of data collection: Online
Secondary Mode of data collection: Literature review from scientific journals
Study Location: India
Study timeline: 4 months (September 2022 – December 2022)
Components of the study:
Data Processing and Statistical Analysis: Data will be collected through the online self-designed questionnaire. The demographic factors of the participants along with the responses will be entered in digital analytical software. The components as mentioned. Summary statistics along with quantitative analysis from SPSS software will be used.
Plan of the study:
Study Process – The knowledge, attitude, beliefs, and perception of the general public towards the periodic health checkup and lifestyle diseases will be assessed using a self-designed questionnaire from the general public. At the end of the study, the data responses will be then transferred to digital analytical software. The self-designed questionnaire contains 3 sections: - 1) Knowledge 2) Attitude and beliefs 3) Perception where each sections include 8, 11 and 10 questions respectively.
Subjects - The sample size designed for the study is 385, which is generated by the Raosoft sample size calculator by keeping the confidence interval at 95%, including all type of Gender and 18+ in age, across Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India. The self-designed questionnaire will be circulated among all the social media handles and contacts to get adequate responses for 3 months of study duration.
Outcome variables
Troubleshooting
Time Taken
4 months (September 2022 – December 2022)
Anticipated Results