Routine Medical Check-Up and Self-Treatment Practices among Community-Dwelling Living in a Mountainous Area of Northern Vietnam

This study was conducted to evaluate the routine medical check-up and self-treatment behaviors of people living in a remote and mountainous setting in Northern Vietnam and identify their associations. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 175 people in August 2018 in Cao Son commune, Da Bac district, Hoa Binh. Information regarding routine medical check-ups and self-treatment behaviors was collected by using a structured questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the associations. Results show that 24% of the mountainous people had routine medical check-ups in the last 12 months. The rate of self-treatment in the past three months was 33.7%. The number of chronic diseases (OR=1.5, 95% CI=1.0-2.3), health information sources from radio/television (OR=3.3, 95% CI=1.2-9.5), or social media (OR=24.8, 95% CI=1.2-512.4) was related to routine medical check-up. People who did not have routine medical check-up were more likely to have self-treatment practice (OR=6.3, 95% CI=1.9-21.1) than those who had a regular health check. Promoting health education and communication through mass media to raise people's awareness about regular health check-ups is a promising way to improve people's self-treatment status.