Background

Undergo a health check for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important strategy to improve cardiovascular (CV) health. Men are reported to be less likely to undergo cardiovascular disease (CVD) health check than women. Gender difference could be one of the factors influencing health seeking behaviour of men and women. We aimed to identify gender differences in factors influencing the intention to undergo CVD health checks.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional survey using mall intercept interviews. Malaysians aged ≥30 years without known CVD were recruited. They were asked for their intention to undergo CVD health checks and associated factors. The factors included seven internal factors that were related to individuals’ attitude, perception and preparedness for CVD health checks and two external factors that were related to external resources. Hierarchical ordinal regression analysis was used to evaluate the importance of the factors on intention to undergo CVD health checks, for men and women separately.

Results

397 participants were recruited, 60% were women. For men, internal factors explained 31.6% of the variances in likeliness and 9.6% of the timeline to undergo CVD health checks, with 1.2% and 1.8% added respectively when external factors were sequentially included. For women, internal factors explained 18.9% and 22.1% of the variances, with 3.1% and 4.2% added with inclusion of the external factors. In men, perceived drawbacks of health checks was a significant negative factor associated with likeliness to undergo CVD health checks (coefficient = -1.093; 95%CI:-1.592 to -0.594), and timeline for checks (coefficient = -0.533; 95%CI:-0.975 to -0.091). In women, readiness to handle outcomes following health checks was significantly associated with likeliness to undergo the checks (coefficient = 0.575; 95%CI: 0.063 to 1.087), and timeline for checks (coefficient = 0.645; 95%CI: 0.162 to 1.128). Both external factors 1) influence by significant others (coefficient = 0.406; 95%CI: 0.013 to 0.800) and 2) external barriers (coefficient = -0.440; 95%CI:-0.869 to -0.011) were also significantly associated with likeliness to undergo CVD health checks in women.

Conclusions

Both men and women were influenced by internal factors in their intention to undergo CVD health checks, and women were also influenced by external factors. Interventions to encourage CVD health checks need to focus on internal factors and be gender sensitive.

中文翻译：

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影响接受心血管疾病健康检查意向的因素中的性别差异：横断面调查

背景

对心血管疾病（CVD）进行健康检查是改善心血管（CV）健康的重要策略。据报道，男性比女性接受心血管疾病（CVD）健康检查的可能性更低。性别差异可能是影响男女寻求健康行为的因素之一。我们旨在确定影响进行CVD健康检查的意图的因素中的性别差异。

方法

这是使用购物中心拦截采访进行的横断面调查。招募了年龄≥30岁且无已知CVD的马来西亚人。他们被要求打算进行CVD健康检查和相关因素。这些因素包括与个人对CVD健康检查的态度，看法和准备情况有关的七个内部因素，以及与外部资源有关的两个外部因素。分层序数回归分析用于评估男性和女性心血管疾病健康检查意向因素的重要性。

结果

招募了397名参与者，其中60％是女性。对于男性，内部因素解释了进行CVD健康检查的可能性的31.6％和时间表的9.6％，当依次包括外部因素时，分别增加了1.2％和1.8％。对于女性而言，内部因素解释了方差的18.9％和22.1％，加上外部因素则分别增加了3.1％和4.2％。在男性中，认为健康检查的弊端是与进行CVD健康检查的可能性（系数= -1.093； 95％CI：-1.592至-0.594）和检查时间表（系数= -0.533； 95％）相关的重大负面因素CI：-0.975至-0.091）。在女性中，健康检查后准备好处理结局与接受检查的可能性显着相关（系数= 0.575； 95％CI：0.063至1.087），以及检查时间表（系数= 0.645； 95％CI：0.162至1.128）。两种外部因素（1）受其他重要因素的影响（系数= 0.406; 95％CI：0.013至0.800）和2）外部障碍（系数= -0.440; 95％CI：-0.869至-0.011）也与对女性进行CVD健康检查。

结论

男性和女性在进行CVD健康检查的意愿方面都受到内在因素的影响，而女性也受到外在因素的影响。鼓励进行CVD健康检查的干预措施应着眼于内部因素并且对性别敏感。