Routine Medical Check-Up and Self-Treatment Practices among Community-Dwelling Living in a Mountainous Area of Northern Vietnam
This study was conducted to evaluate the routine medical check-up and self-treatment behaviors of people living in a remote and mountainous setting in Northern Vietnam and identify their associations. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 175 people in August 2018 in Cao Son commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh. Information regarding routine medical check-ups and self-treatment behaviors was collected by using a structured questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the associations. Results show that 24% of the mountainous people had routine medical check-ups in the last 12 months. The rate of self-treatment in the past three months was 33.7%. The number of chronic diseases ( OR = 1.5 , 95% CI = 1.0 ‐ 2.3 ), health information sources from radio/television ( OR = 3.3 , 95% CI = 1.2 ‐ 9.5 ), or social media ( OR = 24.8 , 95% CI = 1.2 ‐ 512.4 ) was related to routine medical check-up. People who did not have routine medical check-up were more likely to have self-treatment practice ( OR = 6.3 , 95% CI = 1.9 ‐ 21.1 ) than those who had a regular health check. Promoting health education and communication through mass media to raise people’s awareness about regular health check-ups is a promising way to improve people’s self-treatment status.