Determinants of the Demand for Using Preventive Medical Care Among Adults in Penang, Malaysia

Background: In light of the fact that chronic diseases were becoming more prevalent recently, the primary objective of the study was to examine the socio-demographic, health, and lifestyle determinants of the use of preventive medical care in Penang, Malaysia.
Methods: The study used the primary survey data in Penang which had a total of 398 respondents. Respondents were chosen based on convenient sampling, and the survey was carried out in various locations in Penang. During the survey, the designed questionnaires were distributed for self-administration by the respondents between August and October, 2010. The binary logistic regression model was employed for statistical analysis.
Results: Socio-demographic and health factors like income, marital status, education, history of serious family illnesses and self-perceived health status were statistically significant in affecting the likelihood of using preventive medical care. Specifically, being married (OR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.13, 3.32), the presence of a history of serious family illnesses (OR: 2.14; 95% CI: 1.37, 3.36), having high income (OR: 8.71; 95% CI: 1.03, 73.59) and self-perceived poor health status (OR: 4.78; 95% CI: 1.09, 21.00) were positively related with using preventive medical care. However, having low educational background (OR: 0.23; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.95) were inversely related to the probability of using such medical care.
Conclusion: In view of the findings, the individuals’ socio-demographic and health profiles were suggested to be given attention by the public health authorities if the goals of increasing the use of preventive medical care in the community were to be achieved.