Utilization of Medical Facilities by Children in Japan at Night and During Holidays

Background: Population of children under 6 years in Japan is decreasing from 6,761 thousands in 2005 to 6,031 thousands in 2015. Compared with the past, today`s parents are raising fewer children. It is probable that they do not have an enough experience with treating children`s illness and that they bring their children even with a mild illness to medical facilities not only in daytime but also at night and holidays.

Objective: In this analysis, I tried to clarify the number of children`s first visit to medical facilities in Japan in day- and night-time and their hospitalization rate between 2007 and 2017.

Methods: I used data from Statistics of Medical Care Activities in Public Health Insurance, 2007, 2012, and 2017 published by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. I calculated the number of the fee charged for a first visit of children under 6 years old in and out of medical hours.

Results: The number of the fee charged for a patient`s first visit increased 576.36 (/1000 person-months) in 2007 to 606.17 (/1000 person - months) in 2017. The increment was highest in daytime (Table 1).

Table 1. The number of the fee charged for a patient`s first visit.

(First visit/1000 person-months)

Hospitalization of infants and toddlers was also growing from 0.48% in 2007 to 0.86% in 2017, and the rate was highest at midnight (from 3.55% in 2007 to 7.59% in 2017, Table 2).

Table 2. Hospitalization rate of infants and toddler at first visit

Conclusion: Most of parents bring their children to medical facilities in daytime, and they tend to refrain from utilizing medical facilities at night and during holidays when their children have a mild illness.