Key result
A social nudge intervention involving a postcard sent to an employee's spouse significantly increased the employee's willingness to undergo a secondary health examination from 12.1% to 46.6% (p<0.0001 within group), although the between-group difference was not significant (p=0.7206).
Why the study?
Many people with hypertension and dyslipidemia do not consider these risk factors important and remain untreated despite annual health checkups.
Does a social nudge via a spouse improve the willingness to undergo secondary health examinations in employees with untreated hypertension or dyslipidemia?
Cohort (n=67)
No
Does a social nudge via a spouse improve the willingness to undergo secondary health examinations in employees with untreated hypertension or dyslipidemia?
A social nudge via a spouse significantly increased the willingness of employees with untreated cardiovascular risk factors to undergo secondary health examinations, though it did not significantly increase actual examination rates.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May increase secondary examination uptake among employees with untreated risk factors; leaves open impact on long-term cardiovascular outcomes.
Objectives: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are major risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, many people do not consider these risk factors important, even if they are noted during their annual health checkups and left untreated for a long time. Here, we report a novel nudge method to encourage people who had these risk factors and examine the resultant changes in the willingness to undergo secondary health examinations. Methods: Employees of Novartis Pharma K.K. and its affiliated companies who had elevated blood pressure and/or lipid levels during annual health checkups were allocated to either the social nudge group (postcards were sent to their spouses) or the control group (postcards were sent to themselves) after confirming their agreement to receive postcards in order to encourage them to take secondary health examination. A web-based survey via email was conducted before and after sending the postcards to understand the willingness to undergo secondary health examinations. The proportion of employees who underwent secondary health examinations did not increase significantly in either group. Conclusions: This study suggested that a social nudge via spouse has a possibility of increasing the willingness to undergo secondary health examinations at low cost. To increase the proportion of undergoing it, combinations with other nudges might be necessary.
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Katagiri et al. (2025) conducted a cohort in Hypertension and/or dyslipidemia (n=67). Social nudge (postcard sent to spouse) vs. Control (postcard sent to employee) was evaluated on Willingness to undergo a secondary health examination after postcard delivery (p=0.7206). A social nudge intervention involving a postcard sent to an employee's spouse significantly increased the employee's willingness to undergo a secondary health examination from 12.1% to 46.6% (p<0.0001 within group), although the between-group difference was not significant (p=0.7206).
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