Noncommunicable diseases, risk factors, and protective factors in adults with and without health insurance

Abstract

This study describes the coverage of health insurance and compares the occurrence of risk factors (RF) and protective factors of noncommunicable diseases in the population with and without health insurancesin Brazilianstate capitals. Data from the telephone survey Vigitel was analyzed. The Poisson regression model was used to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR), com-paring RF among those who did or did not have a health insurance. Plan coverage was 49.1%, and the highest prevalences were in Goiania, Vitória, Florianópolis, and Belo Horizonte. Adults over 55 years of age and with higher education were more likely to have an insurance. The population with health insurance hada higher prevalence of protective factors, such as fruit and vegetable consumption (PR = 1.3 95% CI 1.2-1.3), physical activity in their free time (PR = 1.2 (95% CI: 1.2-1.3), mammographies (RP = 1.2 IC95% 1.1-1.3) and pap smears (PR = 1.1 IC95% 1.2-1.3), and lower prevalence of RFs such as smoking (RP = 0.7, 95% CI 0.6-0.8), poor health (RP = 0.8 CI95% 0.6-0.9), obesity (RP = 0.8 IC95% 0.7-0.9), consumption of meat with fat (RP = 0.9 IC95% 0.8-0.9) and whole milk (RP = 0.9 IC95% 0,8-0.9). Regardless of educational level, the population that has health insurancesgenerally has better indicators, such as healthier habits and greater coverage of preventive exams.