Satisfaction with aging and use of preventive health services

Objective: Preventive health service use is relatively low among older age groups. We hypothesized that aging satisfaction would be associated with increased use of preventive health services four years later. Method: We conducted multiple logistic regression analyses on a sample of 6177 people from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative study of U.S. adults over the age of 50 (. M age. =. 70.6; women n=. 3648; men n=. 2529). Results: Aging satisfaction was not associated with obtaining flu shots. However, in fully-adjusted models, each standard deviation increase in aging satisfaction was associated with higher odds of reporting service use for cholesterol tests (. OR=. 1.10, 95% CI. =. 1.00-1.20). Further, women with higher aging satisfaction were more likely to obtain a mammogram/x-ray (. OR=. 1.17, 95% CI. =. 1.06-1.29) or Pap smear (. OR=. 1.10, 95% CI. =. 1.00-1.21). Among men, the odds of obtaining a prostate exam increased with higher aging satisfaction (. OR=. 1.20 95% CI. =. 1.09-1.34). Conclusion: These results suggest that aging satisfaction potentially influences preventive health service use after age 50.