We used retrospective information from the Survey on Health,
Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to analyze the utilization
patterns of preventive care around the time of migration of a representative
sample of migrants in Europe. We find heterogeneous behaviours across
different types of preventive care. Migrants increase the utilization of
dental care significantly as soon as they reach the host country compared to
the years immediately before migration, while migrant women increase their
use of blood pressure tests, gynaecological visits, and mammogram tests
progressively after migration. Other types of care do not exhibit particular
patterns in relation to the migration episode. We also observe relevant
differences in preventive care use around migration by country of origin.
Our results suggest that preventive care use by migrants cannot be given
for granted and is intimately linked to the process of integration in the
host countr
