Labor factor barriers to seeking medical services among metropolitan workers: a cross-sectional analysis by sex using the J-SHINE study

Abstract

Objectives: There is limited evidence on the relationship between labor factors and the decision to refrain from seeking medical services. This study aimed to examine how labor factors are related to medical service access among male and female workers in Tokyo and surrounding areas. Methods: We used data from 4,385 respondents to the survey in the Japanese Study on Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood (J-SHINE), an ongoing epidemiologic household panel study. Surveys from 2010 to 2011 were analyzed. The outcome variable was whether or not an individual refrained from seeking medical services. Labor factors included employment type (permanent, temporary, or self-employed), company size (<100, 100-1,000, or >1,000 employees) and occupation type (white-collar, blue-collar). Results: We included a total of 2,013 people after excluding those with missing data (analysis utilization: 45.9%). After adjusting covariates, we found that men working in small companies were more likely to refrain from seeking medical services than were those in medium or large companies (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.37). Among women, however, those in self-employment (PR: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.08-1.77) and blue-collar employment (PR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.04-1.47) were more likely to refrain than were those classified as permanent or white-collar workers. Conclusions: The relationship between labor factors and refraining from seeking medical services differed among men by company size, and among women by employment type and occupation type.

Relationship between the Health Literacy and Self-Medication Behavior of Primary Health Care Clientele in the Hail Region, Saudi Arabia: Implications for Public Health

“…This conceivably explains why those with white-collar occupations scored higher in the literacy scale than those with blue-collar jobs. Pei and colleagues [ 27 ] found that, compared to their white-collar peers, blue-collar workers were less likely to seek medical care when they were ill. According to a Japanese survey, white-collar workers in large corporations in Japan enjoy higher salaries and greater job security due to lifelong employment [ 28 ].…”

Organizational Justice and Refraining from Seeking Medical Care Among Japanese Employees: A 1-Year Prospective Cohort Study

“…Multiple logistic regression analysis was selected as a main analysis. According to a formula proposed by Peduzzi et al [ 44 ], we calculated the minimum required sample size for multiple logistic regression analysis while considering that the prevalence of RSMC among Japanese employees has been reported to be about 50% for both genders [ 45 ] and that the maximum number of independent variables (i.e., the number of continuous variables and dummy variables in the fully adjusted model) was 29 for male and 28 for female employees. As a result, the minimum required sample size was 580 for male and 560 for female employees; therefore, our sample size was considered to have sufficient statistical power for the main analysis.…”

Factors associated with access to health care among foreign residents living in Aichi Prefecture, Japan: secondary data analysis

“…Levesque et al [ 30 ] suggested access as “opportunity” based on the review of previous studies. International surveys often use a question asking “unmet health care needs” [ 35 ], which are also often used in studies on nationals and migrants in Japan [ 22 , 23 , 36 ].…”