[Analysis on the relationship between use of health check ups and medical care by elderly patients. A study on urban cities with high health check-up rates].
The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of health examination provided by municipalities in Japan on the use of medical care by elderly patients aged 70 and above. The study was carried out to compare health indicators of cities with high and low usage rates for health check ups over 14 years. The indicators of health service utilization included mean bed days, mean inpatient fees, and mean outpatient fees in 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1996. The data for these indicators were collected from all 12 Japanese cities, where more than 50% of the target population had annual health check-ups in 1983, 1986, 1989 and 1992, as the subjects of high rate cities. All other 134 cities belonging to the same prefectures with the 12 cities were included as the control low rate cities. The correlation coefficients for all the 146 cities showed that usage rates of health check ups had an inverse relationship with mean bed days and mean inpatient fees for the elderly population in all the fiscal years 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1996. In nine out of the ten prefectures, mean bed days and mean inpatient fees were lower in the high rate cities as compared to the low rate cities for all the fiscal years compared. The bed days in the 12 high rate cities were 72% of those in 134 low rate cities in 1983, and the percentages were 66%, 72%, and 78% in 1988, 1993 and 1996 respectively. No remarkable differences in mean outpatient fees were observed between the high and low rate cities. The differences in use of medical care by inpatients suggest that providing preventive health services would decrease the demand by the elderly and result in a more efficient use of health resources.
Shinsho
F
F
Department of Preventive Dentistry, Dental School of Nagasaki University.
Fukuda
H
H
Murakami
S
S
Takatorige
T
T
Nakanishi
N
N
Tatara
K
K
D000368:Aged; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000191:economics; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009313:National Health Programs; D014504:Urban Health; D014505:Urban Population