Manuti et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:350 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/350 Table 1 Selected characteristics of the study population N (%) Mean (±SD) Characteristic Sex Male 660 (45) Female 807 (55) Age group, years 52.3 (±17.0) 18-45 498 (33.9) 46-64 541 (36.9) ≥ 65 428 (29.2) Education level No formal education 305 (20.8) Primary school 309 (21) Secondary school 588 (40.1) University degree 265 (18.1) Marital status Married 988 (67.3) Other 479 (32.7) Living condition With family 1020 (69.5) Other 447 (30.5) Additional persons in the household None 138 (9.4) 1 384 (26.2) >1 945 (64.4) Working activity No 843 (57.5) Yes 624 (42.5) Chronic diseases No 579 (39.5) Yes 888 (60.5) Hypertension No 972 (66.3) Yes 495 (33.7) Tobacco use in entire life No 724 (49.3) Yes 743 (50.7) Frequency of current smoking Not at all 360 (48.4) Some day 37 (5) Every day 346 (46.6) Attempts to quit smoking in entire life among current smokers No 184 (48) Yes 199 (52) Attempts to quit smoking in the previous year among current smokers No 109 (54.8) Yes 90 (45.2) Alcohol consumption in the previous 30 days No 615 (41.9) Yes 852 (58.1) Table 1: Selected characteristics of the study population (Continued) Page 4 of 10 45.9 (±10.8) 44.9 (±11.6) Excessive alcohol use No Yes Perceived health status 12-Physical Component Summary (PCS-12) 12-Mental Component Summary (MCS-12) PCP¹ accesses in the previous year <12 ≥12 PCP¹ medical visits in the previous year 1346 (91.7) 121 (8.3) 782 (53.3) 685 (46.7) None 528 (36) <12 590 (40.2) ≥12 349 (23.8) Specialist visits in community health services in the previous year None 890 (60.7) ≥1 577 (39.3) Private specialist visits in the previous year None 778 (53) ≥1 689 (47) Emergency accesses in the previous year None 1129 (77) ≥1 338 (23) Hospital admissions in the previous year None 1279 (87.2) ≥1 188 (12.8) ¹ PCP = primary care physician higher provision of preventive services compared to hearing difficulties in the elderly (64.3% versus 31.3%), and it was significantly more likely to be delivered to older subjects, the less educated and frequent users of health services. Rates of cancer screening were low for all types of cancer–approximately 50% of those eligible received breast or cervical cancer screening–but they were extremely low for colorectal cancer screening (21%). Even less likely to receive colorectal cancer screening were women, those with higher educational levels, current smokers, and those admitted to hospital; women, those more educated, married, workers, those with chronic disease and frequent users of private spe- cialists were significantly more likely to receive cervical cancer screening, whereas breast cancer screening was significantly more likely delivered to younger women, those having attended PCP and or having been admitted to hospital admissions in the previous year. The recom- mendation for influenza vaccination was considerably higher compared with pneumococcal (respectively 90.2%