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. 2023 Jul 14;6(3):321-331.
doi: 10.31662/jmaj.2023-0040. Epub 2023 Jun 30.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Check-ups: A Nationwide Questionnaire Survey in 639 Healthcare Facilities in Japan Society of Ningen Dock

Satoko Yamaguchi  1 , Tomofumi Atarashi  2   3 , Akira Okada  1 , Shigeru Nasu  2   4 , Toshimasa Yamauchi  5 , Yasuji Arase  2   6 , Takao Aizawa  2   7 , Masaomi Nangaku  8 , Takashi Kadowaki  1   5   9
Affiliations

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Check-ups: A Nationwide Questionnaire Survey in 639 Healthcare Facilities in Japan Society of Ningen Dock

Satoko Yamaguchi et al. JMA J. .

Abstract

Introduction: Health check-ups have been disrupted worldwide by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially at its beginning. In Japan, undergoing annual check-ups is mandatory for full-time employees of all ages, while those other than full-time employees are entitled to undergo nonmandatory cancer screenings and specific health check-ups. To evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health check-ups, we conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey targeting healthcare facilities.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted between December 10, 2021, and January 28, 2022. Healthcare facilities were eligible if they were members of Japan Society of Ningen Dock and could respond via email. The monthly and yearly numbers of examinees undergoing mandatory or nonmandatory check-ups in 2020 and 2021 were compared with those in 2019. The proportions of examinees requiring follow-up visits and adhering to follow-up visits were compared between 2020 and 2019. Precautions taken against COVID-19 were also investigated.

Results: Of the 1,299 eligible facilities, 639 participated (response rate, 49.2%). Health check-up services were suspended in 484 (75.7%) facilities for a median duration of 5 (interquartile range [IQR]: 4-8) weeks. A total of 19,861,230 and 21,748,125 examinees underwent health check-ups in 591 facilities in 2020 and 2021, respectively, 10.0% and 1.4% less than the numbers in 2019. The number of examinees undergoing health check-ups decreased by a median of 8.3% (IQR: -14.6 to -3.1) in 2020 compared to that in 2019, with the largest decrease of 70.3% (IQR -87.9 to -48.5) in May. Although the number of examinees undergoing mandatory check-ups increased in 2021 compared with that in 2019, the number of those undergoing nonmandatory check-ups remained low.

Conclusions: While people eligible for mandatory check-ups were adherent to check-ups in 2021, those ineligible for mandatory check-ups seemed less adherent. Public health efforts to encourage these people to adhere to check-ups during the pandemic are required.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; cancer screenings; diabetes screenings; health check-ups.

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Conflict of interest statement

SY, AO, and TK are members of the Department of Prevention of Diabetes and Lifestyle-Related Diseases, a cooperative program between The University of Tokyo and Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Suspension of health check-up services during the pandemic in healthcare facilities. (A) Facilities were asked whether they suspended all or part of the services (n = 639) (B) Duration of service suspension (n = 624).
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Changes in the monthly number of examinees undergoing health check-ups. Supplementary Table 2 shows the median percentage changes compared to that in the same month in 2019 and IQR
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Cumulative numbers of examinees undergoing health check-ups between January 2020 and December 2021. Cumulative numbers of examinees in 2020 and 2021 (black lines) were compared to those in the pre-COVID-19 year (2019) (gray lines) for (A) all check-ups, (B) check-ups based on the Industrial Safety and Health Act, (C) check-ups for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, (D) specific health check-ups alone, and (E) cancer screenings by local governments.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Regional differences in the magnitude of reduction in health check-ups. The magnitudes of reduction in the number of examinees and infection rates of COVID-19 in each prefecture in 2020 (left panel) and 2021 (right panel) are shown. The volume of each sphere represents the numbers of facilities that participated in the survey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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