Respondents were 6981 women aged 18 years or older residing in the United States who self-reported sociodemographic information and the use of health care services. When age, race, income, education, smoking, and health insurance status were adjusted for, the BMI was directly related to delaying clinical breast examinations, gynecologic examinations, and Papanicolaou smears. The BMI was not significantly related to delays in mammography. Among women, an increased BMI is associated with decreased preventive health care services, which may exacerbate or even account for some of the increased health risks of obesity. Arch Fam Med.
Some evidence exists, however, that obese women delay or avoid medical and preventive care services.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between the BMI and both the frequency of physician visits and the use of preventive health care services among a nationally representative sample of women, adjusting for age, sociodemographic characteristics, smoking, and health insurance status. The NHIS is a continuing annual personal interview survey of approximately 49,000 households in the civilian noninstitutionalized US population aged 18 years or older selected through a multistage cluster-area probability sampling design. Data are collected on personal, sociodemographic, and health-related information of family members and unrelated persons living in these households. The Cancer Control Supplement to the 1992 NHIS was administered to a randomly selected subsample of 12,035 adult respondents. The survey ascertained information on health-related knowledge and attitudes, as well as the use of health care services.