Sujeong Shin1, Yun-Mi Song1, Hyeonyoung Ko1, Yoon-Ho Choi2, Woo Yong Lee2, Son Mi Chung2, Sunyoung Park1, Insub Kim1, Jinyoung Shin3

1Department of Family Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 2Center for Health Promotion, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 3Department of Family Medicine, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea


Background: Based on scientific evidence, the Korean National Health Examination recommends age 40 as an appropriate time for screening. However, awareness of the health examination itself or of the appropriate age for screening has not been discussed extensively with examinees. This study aims to evaluate the perception about age at the start and end of periodic health examinations (PHE).
Methods: A self-administered survey was completed by 887 subjects who visited either the health promotion center or the outpatient clinic at a university hospital in Korea between February 15 and May 18, 2016. Participants were divided into two groups: 587 were periodic health examinees, and 300 were visitors to the family medicine clinic. Their awareness of PHE was compared using the Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression.
Results: Both groups had similar (P>0.05) perceptions regarding the awareness, knowledge and usefulness of the PHE. Both groups preferred to continue taking a PHE with no upper limit on the age when it could be taken. This tendency was more prominent among subjects with higher levels of education and household income. In both groups with individuals under age 50 said that the appropriate age to begin screening is 40 or younger.
Conclusions: The perception regarding the ages at which to start and end the PHE was confirmed according to the subject of visit; a wider range of appropriate ages was preferred than is included in the current recommendations.
Korean J Health Promot 2017;17(3):161-167

Keywords: Health service, Age factors, Socioeconomic factors