Mobility impairments and use of preventive services in women with multiple sclerosis : observational study

Use of preventive health services is affected by factors such as patient demographics, clinical characteristics, type of provider, and type of healthcare system.1 Although people with multiple sclerosis may have impaired mobility, their lifespans are similar to age matched population controls. They therefore need standard preventive services to prevent early mortality. We evaluated the relation between mobility and use of preventive services in women with multiple sclerosis. In 1996, we sent questionnaires to 1164 adults with multiple sclerosis who had received outpatient care in 1993 or 1994 from one of three systems of health care (two forms of managed care and fee for service insurance) in two regions of the United States.2 The overall response rate was 80% (930/1164). We report here survey analyses from the 713 women respondents. We collected self reported rates of cervical smear testing, mammography, and breast examination (if over age 50), blood pressure checks, cholesterol screening, and physician …