Practice of Preventive Health Checkups Among Doctors of a Major Teaching Hospital

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Preventive health care practices including regular Preventive Health assessments is one of the best methods to monitor Health and prevent non-communicable diseases apart from lifestyle modifications. Preventive health measures are always cost effective and adoption of such practices among medical professionals is a great stimulus to the general public. This study was aimed to determine the preventive health checks among the doctors' community. METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among 234 doctors. A pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was analyzed using MS Excel software and was represented in the form of percentages and proportions. RESULTS: The study population constituted 234 doctors of which 56% were males and 44% were females. 34.6% of the study population were below 45 years of age and 65.4% were 45 years and above. 35.9% of the study population was found to have normal BMI (< 24.99). 32% of the study population was found to have co-morbid conditions. In the present study population 95 (40.6%) doctors were undergoing regular annual preventive health examinations out of which 31 (38.3%) were below 45 years of age and 64 (41.8%) were 45 years and above. Males and female undergoing preventive health checks were 63 (48%) and 32 (31%) respectively. 37 (49.3%) of doctors with co-morbidities and 58 (36.4%) of them without co-morbid conditions were undergoing regular health checks. CONCLUSION: The practice of preventive health checks among Doctors is significantly less than what we expect. Preventive health measures are always cost effective and adoption of such practices among medical professionals is a great stimulus to the general public.