Comparison of risk and protective factors for chronic diseases in the population with and without health insurance in the Brazilian capitals, 2011.

INTRODUCTION The article compares the risk and protective factors for Non-communicable Diseases (NCD), referred morbidity and access to preventive examinations in the population with and without health insurance in all Brazilian State capitals. METHODS The study population consists of adults (≥ 18 years old) living in households with landlines in 26 Brazilian State capitals and the Federal District. Estimates of selected variables are presented according to possession of health plans ("Yes" or "No") and sex. A post-stratification was performed according to age, gender and education in both populations, and prevalence ratios were calculated, adjusted for age and sex between people with and without health insurance for the risk and protective factors for NCDs. RESULTS A total of 54,099 people at the age of 18 or older were evaluated, 47.4% of them were beneficiaries of health plans. The coverage of health insurance tends to increase with age and level of education. Compared to non-beneficiaries of health plans, beneficiaries were more likely to have protective factors, such as healthy eating, physical activity, coverage tests, such as mammography and Pap test, and lower prevalence of risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity, poor health assessment and hypertension. Alcohol abuse, consumption of excessively fat meats, overweight, obesity and diabetes were not associated with the variable possession of health insurance. When controlled by education, individuals who have health insurance generally have better indicators. CONCLUSION This information is important to establish measures for reducing differences among people with and without health insurance.