Association of physical activity, smoking, and socioeconomic factors on health checkup participation in community-dwelling stroke survivors aged 50 years or older

BACKGROUND: We investigated the sociodemographic and health-related factors associated with health checkup participation in community-dwelling stroke survivors. METHODS: Among participants of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 642 stroke survivors were included. We investigated the sociodemographic, medical, and health-related quality of life factors—evaluated by the EuroQol 5-Dimension Questionnaire (EQ-5D)—associated with participation in any type of health checkup. To explore the associations between multiple variables and health checkup participation, a multivariable complex-sample logistic regression model was used. RESULTS: One-third of the community-dwelling stroke survivors did not receive a health checkup in the past two years. Insufficient physical activity (OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3–0.9), current smoking (OR: 0.4, 95% CI: 0.2–0.8), low education level (OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3–0.9), living alone (OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3–0.998), and no occupation (OR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3–0.9) showed independent negative associations with health checkup participation. Among the five EQ-5D dimensions, mobility, self-care, usual activities, and pain/discomfort dimensions were associated with health checkup participation rate. CONCLUSION: Policies and further research are needed to promote health checkups for stroke survivors who are physically inactive, currently smoking, living alone, unemployed, less educated, or having extreme problems in their daily lives.