The combined effects of activity space and neighbourhood of residence on participation in preventive health-care activities: The case of cervical screening in the Paris metropolitan area (France).

Estimates from multilevel regression of 1768 women living in the Paris metropolitan area showed that women who reported concentrating their daily activities in their perceived neighbourhood of residence had a statistically greater likelihood of not having undergone cervical screening during the previous 2 years. Furthermore, the characteristics of the administrative neighbourhood of residence (such as the practitioner density or the proportion of residents with a recent preventive consultation) had a statistically greater impact in terms of delayed cervical screening on women who concentrated the vast majority of their daily activities within their perceived neighbourhood of residence than among those who did not. The residential environment might promote or damage, to a greater extent, the health behaviour of people whose daily activities are concentrated within their perceived neighbourhood, since we can assume that their exposure to their neighbourhood characteristics is stronger. It could thus be useful to study more often the combined effects of activity space and neighbourhood of residence on participation in preventive health-care activities. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.