[Medical check-ups and selection of subjects: some results from a gerontological field-study (author's transl)]

In a gerontological field-study in Cologne, West-Germany, 1114 subjects of a random sample of elderlies were successively offered three modalities for a medical check-up, which covered a physical examination and a psychiatric interview: 1. in the out-patient department of a psychiatric hospital (Rheinische Landesklinik Köln) (38% of the subjects); 2. in the subjects' home by a psychiatrist of the hospital (13%); 3. by having the general practitioner fill out a questionnaire (21%). There remained a fourth group of subjects who refused any medical check-up (28%). Data on social and economic problems had been obtained for all subjects in a preceding interview. These data were used to find out to what extent selection mechanisms were effective. Results indicate that to a certain extent the modality of the medical check-up chosen by the subject is related to some of the variables analyzed.