Who cares for the caregivers? Health check-up participation among mothers caring for children with developmental disabilities in Korea: findings from the National Health Insurance Service database and a nationwide survey

Caregiving burden may hamper caregivers’ access to healthcare services. This study assessed participation rates of national health check-ups among mothers caring for children with developmental disabilities (MCCDD) in Korea and explored reasons for non-participation. We analyzed two datasets. First, using a nationwide survey of MCCDD in 2024 ( N = 1,903), we assessed their participation in national health check-ups over the past two years and reasons for non-participation. Second, using the National Health Insurance Service database ( N = 118,289), we estimated age- and income-standardized prevalence ratios (SPRs) comparing MCCDD’s participation rates to those of the general female population for general health examination and cancer screenings in 2022. In the survey, 22.5% of MCCDD did not participate in national health check-ups. The most common reasons were ‘lack of time’ (38.0%), ‘utilized only private health check-ups’ (29.4%) and ‘no one was available to care for children during health check-up’ (23.1%). In National Health Insurance Service database analysis, MCCDD showed lower participation rate for general health examinations (SPR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.97, 0.98) compared to the general female population, with similar trends observed across five cancer screening programs. MCCDD were less likely to participate in national health check-ups than the general female population, with caregiving burden as a potential primary barrier to participation.