Sex differences in the use of healthcare services among US adults with and without a cancer diagnosis

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Objective: Cancer imposes higher burden on men. Sex differences in healthcare utilization may contributeto this problem. We compared healthcare utilization among adults with and without a history of cancer asmeasured by having at least one physician visit within the previous 12 months.Material and methods: We analyzed data from 7,229 responders (weighted population size=211,722,892)enrolled in the 2007 Health Information and National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representativesample of non-institutionalized adults in the United States. We used survey weights in all analyses and varianceestimation procedures to account for the complex survey design and used logistic regression models tocalculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Study participants consisted of 2808 (48.6%) males and 4421 (51.4%) females. Overall, men wereless likely to have seen a physician within the previous 12 months (OR=0.39; 95% CI: 0.31-0.48) regardlessof their cancer status. Cancer survivors were more likely to visit a physician within the previous 12 months(OR=2.01; 95% CI: 1.28-3.19) regardless of sex. When stratified by personal history of cancer, men withouta history of cancer were less likely to visit a physician (OR=0.38; 95% CI: 0.30-0.47) whereas men with ahistory of cancer were as likely to have seen a physician in the previous 12 months as women with similarcancer status (OR=1.24; 95% CI: 0.44-3.45).Conclusion: Men increase their healthcare utilization to that of women only after they receive diagnosisof cancer. Targeted interventions to promote utilization of preventive care services by men are needed toreduce the burden of chronic illnesses including cancer among men.