TUESDAY, Oct. 8, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Social risk factors are associated with decreased odds of receiving preventive services such as mammograms, Papanicolaou (Pap) tests, flu or pneumococcal vaccines, and colonoscopies, according to a study published online Oct. 4 in JAMA Network Open.

Tamara Schroeder, M.D., from the University of California, Davis, and colleagues examined the independent associations of social risk factor domains with preventive care services (routine mammography [women aged 40 to 74 years], Pap test [women aged 21 to 65 years], colonoscopy [adults aged 45 to 75 years], influenza vaccine [adults aged 18 years and older], and pneumococcal vaccine [adults aged 65 years and older]). The analysis included data from 82,432 individuals identified from the National Health Interview Survey (2016 to 2018).

The researchers found that all outcomes were associated with educational deficit (mammography: odds ratio [OR], 0.73; Pap test: OR, 0.78; influenza vaccine: OR, 0.71; pneumococcal vaccine: OR, 0.68; colonoscopy: OR, 0.82) and a lack of access to care (mammography: OR, 0.32; Pap test: OR, 0.49; influenza vaccine: OR, 0.44; pneumococcal vaccine: OR, 0.30; colonoscopy: OR, 0.35). Every unit increase in social risk count in an adjusted analysis was significantly associated with decreased odds of receiving a mammography (OR, 0.74), Pap test (OR, 0.84), influenza vaccine (OR, 0.81), pneumococcal vaccine (OR, 0.80), or colonoscopy (OR, 0.88).

“This study suggests that there is a need to address social risk factors to optimize receipt of recommended preventive services,” the authors write. “Future prospective research studies are needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of these associations.”

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