Associations between Hours Worked, Symptoms and Health Resource Utilization among Full‐time Male Japanese Workers

Abstract

Associations between Hours Worked, Symptoms and Health Resource Utilization amongFull-time Male Japanese Workers: Keiko Sato, et al. Department of Epidemiology and Health CareResearch, Graduate School of Medicine and Public Health, Kyoto University-Objectives: To investigate the association between hours worked, symptoms experienced, and health resource utilization. Methods: Data were collected from a nationally representative sample of households in Japan. We studied full-time male workers aged 18-65 yr who worked 100 h or more per month. First, we examined the association between hours worked and symptoms experienced. Second, we examined the association between hours worked and the type of health resource utilized, such as physician visits, over-the-counter (OTC) medication use, dietary supplement use, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) provider visits. We used a multivariable negative binominal model in each analysis. Results: Of the 762 male workers, 598 reported experiencing symptoms at least once a month. We categorized participants based on the number of hours worked per month (h/mo): 100-200 h/mo, 201-250 h/mo, and over 250 h/mo. Compared with those working 201-250 h/ mo, those working 100-200 h/mo had more frequent physician visits (rate ratio:1.67, 95% CI: 1.17 to 2.38) and those working over 250 h/mo had significantly lower rates of CAM provider visits and tended to use dietary supplements for symptoms. Participants who worked 201-250 h/mo used OTC medication most frequently.No significant association was observed between the number of hours worked and number of symptoms experienced. Conclusions: The more hours worked by full-time male workers, the more likely they were to use health resources that had a lower time requirement. Greater attention should be paid to patterns of health resource utilization among workers and their consequent influence on long-term health status. (J Occup Health 2011; 53: 197-204)

Occupational Health Services Improve Effective Coverage for Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus at Japanese Companies

“…Goto et al also reported that there was no relationship between shiftwork, overtime work, stress, or other work factors, and whether or not employees continued treatment [7]. Sato et al reported that full-time employees who had some symptoms were more likely to visit medical institutions if they did less overtime work, and that they were more likely to take supplements if they did more overtime work [24]. Azami et al reported that among employees with diabetes mellitus, those who did not visit medical institutions had higher HbA1c than those who did visit medical institutions, and that working long hours and having holidays other than Sunday increased the risk of not visiting medical institutions [25].…”

Key information providers, channels, and characteristics of Japanese consumers’ informed choices of over-the-counter medications

“…Associations between consumers’ use of OTCs and their non-demographic/lifestyle factors have been demonstrated in previous studies (Conn 1991 ; Morales-Suárez-Varela et al 2009 ; Villako et al 2012 ). Associations between consumers’ socioeconomic status and their decisions to use either prescription medications or OTCs have also been indicated (Aoyama et al 2012 ; Nielsen et al 2003 ; Sato et al 2011 ). Although it is possible that some of these factors have a direct or indirect influence on consumers’ choices of information providers and channels, as well as on their information needs and their purchases of OTCs, no study investigating such possibilities has been reported to date.…”

Does time pressure create barriers for people to receive preventive health services?

“…A recent Japanese study found that men working long hours (N 250 per month) made about half as many physician visits as those working fewer (100-200) hours per month (Sato et al, 2011). A 2007 Canadian study found similar results indicating a statistically significant inverse association between patients' long work hours (N 45 h per week) and utilization of general practitioner services (Fell et al, 2007).…”