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Family Practice Advance Access published online on December 7, 2006
Family Practice, doi:10.1093/fampra/cml064
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Socio-economic position and the use of preventive health care in older British women: a cross-sectional study using data from the British Women's Heart and Health Study cohort

Rita Patela, Debbie A Lawlora and Shah Ebrahimb

a Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR
b Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK

Correspondence to Rita Patel, Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, UK; Email: Rita.Patel@bristol.ac.uk


  Abstract

Background. Socio-economic inequalities in health may be due to differential uptake of preventive and therapeutic medical services.

Objectives. To examine socio-economic position and self-reported use of six preventive services in a cohort of older British women.

Methods. Women randomly selected from general practice age/sex registers in 23 towns were examined from 1998 to 2001. Of all, 3652 women aged 62–83 years completed a questionnaire in 2003 assessing preventive service use.

Results. Women from manual social classes were less likely to have recent flu vaccinations [odds ratio (OR) 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74, 0.98] and dental (OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.36, 0.49), eye (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67, 0.88) or chiropody examinations (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.77, 1.01). Manual social class was not related to having recent blood pressure or cholesterol checks.

Conclusions. Among older British women, preventive services for cardiovascular disease are not socially patterned. However, those from lower socio-economic groups are less likely to have recent flu vaccinations and dental, eye and chiropody examinations.

Keywords. Preventive health services, socio-economic position, women.


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