CHECK’D?! : determinants of participation in a two-stage cardiometabolic screening among underserved groups

Abstract

It has been well established that underserved groups have an increased risk of cardiometabolic

disease and are less likely to attend health checks. This differential uptake of health checks

leads to suboptimal health gains from cardiometabolic screening and contributes to the widening of health inequalities in society. The cost-effectiveness of the Dutch cardiometabolic health check is still under study, but with the knowledge we already have it seems advisable to focus primarily on the underserved groups, as they have the most to gain from systematic screening. The findings described in this thesis provide strategies to optimize uptake and may be used to design future studies on this topic. In the general discussion we also advocate that the Government should invest in population-based prevention and move away from the trend of taking own responsibility as this may provide underserved groups the best possible opportunities for a healthy life(style).