BackgroundIn France, equality in access to screening has been one of the main thrusts of public policies implemented between 2009 and 2013 (the national cancer plan). Our aim in this study was to analyse the obstacles to and levers for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening uptake and their trends over time.MethodsBased on representative data from the French Health Care and Health Insurance Survey (three independent, cross-sectional surveys: 2006, 2008, and 2010), multivariate logistic regressions were used to model the association between the nonuse of screening for the three cancers and various independent variables. Then, interactions with survey year dummies allowed the changes in the determinants of these cancer screenings over time to be estimated.ResultsWhereas the incentives for screening were strengthened during the period considered, cervical and breast cancer screenings decreased, and colorectal cancer screenings increased sharply (from 18.2% (95% CI = [17.0-19.4]) in 2006 to 38.9% (95% CI = [37.4-40.5] in 2010. Under-users of the three cancer screenings were primarily unskilled workers (ORcervix = 1.64 [1.38-1.95]), individuals without complementary health insurance (ORbreast = 2.05 [1.68-2.51]), or individuals with free complementary health insurance who more rarely use outpatient care. Moreover, individuals reporting either risky behaviours, namely heavy smokers (ORcolorectal = 1.70) and high-risk drinkers (ORcervix = 1.42) or very safe behaviours, namely neither smoking nor drinking, underused screenings. Despite the implementation of national programmes for breast and colorectal cancer screenings, the disparities and inequalities in screening uptake did not decrease over the study period.ConclusionsThese results demonstrate the need for additional primary prevention efforts targeting the identified under-users by focusing on, for instance, individuals with a very healthy lifestyle. Health authorities could also intensify their efforts to promote increased access to screening for the most disadvantaged individuals.

Obesity is an important public health issue with an epidemic spread in adolescents and children, which needs to be tackled. This systematic review of primary care physicians' knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices (KABP) regarding childhood obesity will help to implement or adjust the actions necessary to counteract obesity. Eligible studies were identified through a systematic database search for all available years to 2007. Articles were selected if they included data on primary care physicians' KABP regarding childhood obesity: 130 articles were assessed and eventually 11 articles covering the period 1987-2007 and responding to the inclusion criteria were analyzed. The included studies showed that almost all physicians agreed on the necessity to treat childhood obesity but they believed to have a low self-efficacy in the treatment and experienced a negative feeling regarding obesity management. There was a large heterogeneity in the assessment of childhood obesity between the different studies but the awareness of the importance of using body mass index increased over the years among physicians. Almost all studies noted that physicians recommended dietary advice, exercise or referral to a dietician. From this review, it is obvious that there is a need for education of primary care physicians to increase the uniformity of the assessment and to improve physicians' self-efficacy in managing childhood obesity. Multidisciplinary treatment including general practitioners, paediatricians and specialized dieticians appears to be the way to counteract the growing obesity epidemic and thus, primary care physicians have to initiate, coordinate and obviously participate in obesity prevention initiatives.

BackgroundIn many OECD countries, the gender differences in physicians’ pay favour male doctors. Due to the feminisation of the doctor profession, it is essential to measure this income gap in the French context of Fee-for-service payment (FFS) and then to precisely identify its determinants. The objective of this study is to measure and analyse the 2008 income gap between males and females general practitioners (GPs). This paper focuses on the role of gender medical practices differentials among GPs working in private practice in the southwest region of France.MethodsUsing data from 339 private-practice GPs, we measured an average gender income gap of approximately 26% in favour of men. Using the decomposition method, we examined the factors that could explain gender disparities in income.ResultsThe analysis showed that 73% of the income gap can be explained by the average differences in doctors’ characteristics; for example, 61% of the gender income gap is explained by the gender differences in workload, i.e., number of consultations and visits, which is on average significantly lower for female GPs than for male GPs. Furthermore, the decomposition method allowed us to highlight the differences in the marginal returns of doctors’ characteristics and variables contributing to income, such as GP workload; we found that female GPs have a higher marginal return in terms of earnings when performing an additional medical service.ConclusionsThe findings of this study help to understand the determinants of the income gap between male and female GPs. Even though workload is clearly an essential determinant of income, FFS does not reduce the gender income gap, and there is an imperfect relationship between the provision of medical services and income. In the context of feminisation, it appears that female GPs receive a lower income but attain higher marginal returns when performing an additional consultation.