[A study of factors in medical insurance records associated with participation in health examinations]

Abstract

Factors in medical insurance records of two groups classified as participants and nonparticipants in a multiphasic health examination (MHE) conducted in a rural town in Kyoto prefecture were compared. The purpose of this study was to clarify how the conditions of medical care influenced the participation in the MHE. The factors were days of consultation, total insurance points and days of consultation classified by specific disease and the area of the medical facility. Participants were examined at least once in 1987-1988 and nonparticipants were never examined in the corresponding period. The data were obtained from the medical insurance records of outpatients for the period from April 1986 thru March 1987. The medical care bills of 170 males and 201 females aged 30-69 were randomly sampled from National Health Insurance records (unit = family), and those of 55 males and 88 females aged 70 and over were from the Medical Service for the Aged (unit = person). These samples were about one forth of target population respectively. Both older participants and older nonparticipants of both sexes had more consultation days and more total insurance points than the corresponding younger subjects. Nonparticipants of both sexes aged 70 and over had more consultation days and more total insurance points than participants; female nonparticipants aged 50-69 had slightly more consultation days and those aged 30-49 also had more insurance points. Nonparticipants tended to have previous medical care for hypertension or ischemic heart disease, which the MHE is responsible for discovering.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)