Benefits of knowing own health status: effects of health check-ups on health behaviours and labour participation

Cheolmin Kang*, Akira Kawamura, Haruko Noguchi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Lifestyle-related diseases account for a large proportion of mortality rates and healthcare expenses. These diseases are largely preventable with behavioural changes, but people often do not have adequate information to change their risky health behaviours. This study, for the first time, examines the extent to which health check-ups, which provide relevant information, affect health behaviours and labour outcomes of people with lifestyle-related diseases. Using nationally representative data on health and socioeconomic status in Japan, this study employs propensity score matching to compare two samples with similar attributes who had or had not received health check-ups. The results show that people who had health check-ups exhibit healthier behaviours and longer working hours than people who had not. Considering their cost and the benefits derived from resultant increases in annual income, health check-ups can be regarded as cost-effective.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
JournalApplied Economics Letters
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Health check-up
  • Japan
  • health behaviours
  • labour participation
  • lifestyle-related diseases

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics

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