With shorter waiting times, 40% of Italians would do more prevention. One in 4 women has never seen a gynecologist in the last 3 years

Italians still do little prevention, and excessive waiting times are one of the main factors that discourages them from doing more. This is according to the latest investigation byHealth Observatory Of UniSalutewhich regularly probes along with Nomisma the attitude of Italians towards controls and preventive visits.

From the research, which involved a representative sample of 1,200 people, it emerges that the percentage of citizens who declare that they monitor their health with regular checks is stuck at 41%, unchanged compared to the survey carried out at the beginning of last year. In this sense, reducing waiting times seems to be one of the keys to encouraging people to take better care of their health: four out of ten respondents (40%) say they would be willing to carry out more checks if waiting times were shorterand 22% if there were greater availability of dates and times.

Italians and prevention: who (doesn't) do what

But how do Italians actually behave with regards to preventive tests and checks? Starting from the positive data, it is encouraging that almost all of the sample (93%) say they have turned to their GP at least once in 2023. In the last 12 months, four out of five Italians (80%) have also carried out tests of blood, with women being more careful (83% had them done) than men (77%).
However, they are still definitely there neglect many specialist visits: more than one Italian in three (35%), for example, has not had a dental visit or dental hygiene for over 3 years, and 44% have never had a dermatological examination to evaluate moles. Even the situation of typical female health checks is not reassuring: One in four women (25%) has not gone to the gynecologist for at least 3 years, and almost one in three (30%) has not had a Pap test for the same amount of time.

Long times and costs too high for Italians

In this sense, in addition to waiting times they also influence in many cases economic considerations: among those who have not undergone any prevention exam for over three years, as many as 36% cite too high costs as the reason, and 47% he says that would do more if they were free.

But the UniSalute survey also highlights how much it weighs on the decisions of Italians poor prevention culture: around two out of three (64%) confess to avoiding visits, postponing them in case of negligible health problems (48%) or admitting to trying to do as little as possible (16%). Finally, almost one in two (45%) declares that they prefer treatment only when they begin to suffer from a real disorder or illness.