Adherence to preventive care - contributions to a community's health profile: a descriptive study

Abstract Introduction: Brain-cardiovascular and oncological diseases are responsible for most causes of death in Portugal. Health professionals, through preventive care, work in early detection, contributing to a better quality of life for people. Objective: To assess the community's adherence to preventive health care. Methods: quantitative descriptive observational. Sample, 567 subjects ≥ 15 years old, not probabilistic, in a municipality in Northern Portugal. Data collection by the IV National Health Survey of the National Health Institute (Section 7). Results: mostly female sample (54.9%), 61.6% aged between 25-64 years, family doctor (97.9%) and of these, 67.7% had a health consultation in the last year. In 2019, of the sample 65 years or older, 57.3% were vaccinated against influenza. The adherence rate to blood pressure and cholesterol assessment was 96.1% and 92.9%, respectively, and glycaemia was 85.6%. The highest adherence was found in cervical cytology (82.8%) and the lowest adherence in colonoscopy (55.9%) concerning oncological diseases screening. The reason for performing these screenings was mostly for routine examination. Conclusion: This study allowed a better understanding of the reality of the population regarding adherence to vaccination and screening, which has reasonable adherence rates, also exposing the intervention of health professionals in this regard. There will be a need to teach/demonstrate the self-collection technique of faeces, especially in populations with less education and advantages of the digital rectal examination, in men.