title: Differing types of medical prevention appeal to different individuals.
abstract: We analyze participation in medical prevention with an expected utility model that is sufficiently rich to capture diverging features of different prevention procedures. The predictions of the model are not rejected with data from SHARE. A decrease in individual health decreases participation in breast cancer screening and dental prevention and increases participation in influenza vaccination, cholesterol screening, blood pressure screening, and blood sugar screening. Positive income effects are most pronounced for dental prevention. Increased mortality risk is an important predictor in the model for breast cancer screening, but not for the other procedures. Targeted screening and vaccination programs increase participation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. nicolas.bouckaert@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bouckaert
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.|CORE, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schokkaert
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004470:Economics, Medical; D015438:Health Behavior; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008327:Mammography / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017059:Models, Econometric; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055502:Secondary Prevention / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D002784:Cholesterol
keywords: Behavioral economics; Expected utility; Prevention; Screening; Vaccination