How Poles take care of health? What is the awareness of the society about physical condition and preventive medical check-ups? Does inflation and its impact on the finances of Poles also affect their health? This is what the e-recepta.net analytical team has prepared in the report below. A survey was conducted among residents of the 10 largest cities – the results could be better. Unfortunately, the awareness of Polish society in the subject of health is still low compared to Europe.
Most residents of Polish cities take care of preventive medical check-ups, but there is still a strong group that does not care enough about prophylaxis. In addition, not every patient pays attention to what the doctor says. When purchasing medicines, we follow the recommendations of specialists, but the percentage of people vaccinated is relatively small. New solutions facilitating medical consultations or the purchase of medicines are gaining in popularity – we are talking here about teleconsultations and e-prescriptions.
In the survey of the e-recepta.net analytical team, the following were verified, e.g.: the frequency of using prescription medicines, most common ailments, frequency of infections, expenditure on medicines and number of people who were forced to reduce their expenditure on necessary medicines due to inflation, how often Poles undergo preventive medical check-ups and what group of society underwent preventive vaccinations. The collected data made it possible to create a comprehensive report and several rankings showing the differences in taking care of health depending on the city of residence.
As we read in the most important conclusions of the report published on the e-recepta.net website:
80.3% of Poles have taken prescription medicines in the last six months;
residents of Wrocław used prescription medicines most often, people from Warsaw – least often;
Poles most often complain about headaches and general weakness;
most respondents experience more serious illness and infections once every few years. Residents of Szczecin struggle with infections most often, residents of Warsaw – least often;
49% of respondents spend more than PLN 100 per month on medicines. People from Szczecin spend more than PLN 300 on medicines most often, people from Katowice – least often;
31.6% of Poles declare that inflation forced them to save when buying necessary medicines. Inflation was most felt by residents of Bydgoszcz, Katowice and Lublin;
teleconsultations are very popular – 51.3% of Poles consulted a doctor by phone in the last twelve months;
35.5% of residents of Polish cities do not regularly perform preventive medical check-ups;
23.8% of respondents declare that they have never been vaccinated – neither against flue nor other diseases. Vaccinations are the most popular in Poznań, the least popular in Katowice;
the majority of respondents (about 60%) assess their health state as average;
from among civilisation diseases, Poles are most afraid of cancer;
40.4% of respondents began to take better care of their health after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Very popular prescription medicines
The data collected in the e-recepta.net survey shows that as many as 80.3% of residents of Polish cities declare that they have taken prescription medicines in the last six months. It concerned more often women (81.9%) than men (73.9%). The percentage of people who need prescriptions increases with age. It is the lowest in the 19-29 age group (70.8%) and the highest in the 60+ age group (86.1%).
Residents of Wrocław (86.4%), Poznań (83.8%) and Bydgoszcz (83.5%) used prescription medicines most often. People from Gdańsk (78.5%), Szczecin (77.9%) and Warsaw (75%) bought medicines of this type least often. The average in most cities oscillates around 80%. The difference between Wrocław (the first in the ranking) and Warsaw (the last in the ranking) is clearly outlined – it amounts to 11.4 percentage points.
Most common ailments of Poles
Poles most often complain about headache (38.9%), weakness (31.2%), sore throat (29.2%), abdominal pain (20.8%) and fever (16.3%). Almost half of respondents declare that they have also struggled with other health problems in the last six months, e.g. very frequent high blood pressure or allergic rhinitis.
According to the report, 35.2% of Poles get sick more seriously once every few years and 14.6% declare that they are never sick. Still, almost a third of respondents experience more serious infections on average once a year (30.6%) and nearly a quarter have similar problems even several times a year (19.6%). Just over half of respondents need stronger medicines for a serious infection at least once
a year.
How much Poles spend on medicines?
Almost half of Poles (49%) spend on average over PLN 100 a month on medicines. In this group, 38.1% of respondents spend PLN 100-299 on medicines, 7.5% spend PLN 300-499, 2.4% – PLN 500-800, and 1% – more than PLN 800.
“Such a large number of respondents who regularly leave at least PLN 100 in pharmacies is consistent with the survey showing that a large proportion of Poles are chronically ill – which requires regular spending on medicines” – we read in the published results.
Medicines, especially those not reimbursed, fetch high prices in Poland. They are a burden on the budget, especially for people of retirement age, who also most often need medicines for diseases such as diabetes or hypertension. High inflation (14.7% in April 2023 – according to the indicators of Statistics Poland (GUS)) has a negative impact on the wallets of Poles who are looking for savings. 31.6% of respondents answered that due to inflation, they had to start saving on necessary medicines – residents of Bydgoszcz (39.2%), Katowice (38.9%) and Lubin (36.4%) were forced most often to make such savings. Respondents from Kraków (28.6%), Szczecin (27.9%), Gdańsk (24.7%) and Warsaw (22.1%) were the least likely to reduce their expenditure on medicines.
Almost a third of respondents could not afford to buy necessary medicines – this shows how much inflation impacts the financial situation of Poles and also affects their health. This applies in particular to the elderly.
Who does preventive medical check-ups?
Poles are not willing to undergo preventive medical check-ups – according to various reports, the percentage of people who do not conduct any examinations has fluctuated in recent years from
40% up to 60%. Moreover, a significant proportion of Poles do not know that many tests (especially in appropriate age groups or in people with risk factors) are free of charge.
Most respondents of the e-recepta.net survey declare that they do regular check-ups (64.5%). However, still more than a third of respondents do not use this type of tests (35.5%). In this case, there is not much correlation with age. Women (65.1%) are slightly more willing to get tested than men (62.3%).
Most people undergo preventive medical check-ups in Gdańsk (73.1%), Warsaw (72.8%) and Lublin (70.9%). Least often in Katowice (58.8%) and Łódź (56.4%).
Poles are still distrustful of vaccinations
Only 76.2% of respondents declare that they have been vaccinated against flue or any other disease at least once. It looks bad compared to Europe – especially since the question concerned diseases in general, i.e. flu, COVID or mandatory vaccinations before travelling to some parts of the world. As for the EU countries – 75% of people were vaccinated against COVID-19 (it is about 60% in Poland). In terms of flue vaccination, Poland remains at the very edge of Europe – only about 7% of people are vaccinated against it.
Most vaccinations are carried out in Poznań (82%), Kraków (81.3%) and Warsaw (80.9%). The least in Gdańsk (73.1%), Wrocław (69.7%) and Katowice (68.3%). The difference between the first and last place in the ranking is as much as 13.8 percentage points.
Patients like teleconsultations
Teleconsultations turned out to be a convenient solution for basic consultations and are very popular. In the last year, 51.3% of respondents have used teleconsultations, which shows that telephone contact with a doctor is treated by many people as the fastest and most convenient form of consultation.
Teleconsultations are the most popular in Łódź (59.5%), Lublin (58.2%) and Kraków (56%). Katowice and Szczecin (47.1%), Bydgoszcz (45.6%) and Wrocław (43.9%) were below the average.
This form of consultation with a doctor is more likely to be used by women than men. The percentage of people who choose this form of consultation is higher in the younger age groups – the older the patients, the less often they choose this form of consultation.
