Abstract
BackgroundEthnic minority and native Dutch groups with a low socioeconomic status (SES) are underrepresented in cardiometabolic health checks, despite being at higher risk. We investigated response and participation rates using three consecutive inexpensive-to-costly culturally adapted invitation steps for a health risk assessment (HRA) and further testing of high-risk individuals during prevention consultations (PC).MethodsA total of 1690 non-Western immigrants and native Dutch with a low SES (35–70 years) from six GP practices were eligible for participation. We used a ‘funnelled’ invitation design comprising three increasingly cost-intensive steps: (1) all patients received a postal invitation; (2) postal non-responders were approached by telephone; (3) final non-responders were approached face-to-face by their GP. The effect of ethnicity, ethnic mix of GP practice, and patient characteristics (gender, age, SES) on response and participation were assessed by means of logistic regression analyses.ResultsOverall response was 70 % (n = 1152), of whom 62 % (n = 712) participated in the HRA. This was primarily accomplished through the postal and telephone invitations. Participants from GP practices in the most deprived neighbourhoods had the lowest response and HRA participation rates. Of the HRA participants, 29 % (n = 207) were considered high-risk, of whom 59 % (n = 123) participated in the PC. PC participation was lowest among native Dutch with a low SES.ConclusionsUnderserved populations can be reached by a low-cost culturally adapted postal approach with a reminder and follow-up telephone calls. The added value of the more expensive face-to-face invitation was negligible. PC participation rates were acceptable. Efforts should be particularly targeted at practices in the most deprived areas.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2139-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Ethnic minority and native Dutch groups with a low socioeconomic status (SES) are underrepresented in cardiometabolic health checks, despite being at higher risk
As ethnicity is not registered by the General practitioner (GP), ethnic origin was deduced from family name, after which the classification was checked by the GP
Because we only looked at participation in the first consultation, we refer to both consultations as one (‘prevention consultations (PC) participation’)
Summary
Ethnic minority and native Dutch groups with a low socioeconomic status (SES) are underrepresented in cardiometabolic health checks, despite being at higher risk. CMD risk is related to low socioeconomic status (SES) and a non-Western origin [2, 3]. In The Netherlands, CVD prevalence and mortality are high among Surinamese and Turkish people [4, 5]. Moroccans, and especially Hindustani Surinamese have a higher DM risk [6]. Attempts to increase participation in health checks in the general population usually compared postal, telephone, and face-to-face strategies in parallel [13,14,15,16,17]. A postal invitation combined with telephone reminders was most effective in cancer screening attendance [14]. Studies taking ethnicity or SES into account tend to find the more labour-intensive, expensive face-toface strategies or combinations of strategies, to be most
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