ArticleInternational journal for equity in health2025
Income-related inequality and horizontal inequity in healthcare utilization under population aging and labor market changes in Japan.
Article in International journal for equity in health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPopulation aging, changes in employment patterns, and widening income disparities have caused concerns about equity in healthcare access within Japan’s universal health insurance system. This study examined income-related inequality and horizontal inequity in healthcare utilization in Japan.
methodsUsing repeated cross-sectional data from 827,168 individuals aged ≥ 20 years, collected from 13 waves of a nationwide population-based survey (1986–2022), trends in the concentration index and horizontal inequity in healthcare utilization were analyzed. A decomposition analysis of the concentration index was conducted to identify the key factors contributing to inequality in healthcare utilization.
resultsHorizontal inequity remained low over the study period after adjusting for healthcare needs; that is, actual healthcare use was closely aligned with healthcare needs. Although pretax income consistently contributed to an unequal distribution of healthcare utilization in favor of the rich, the impact was modest and was mitigated by the growing pro-poor contributions of residence-based health insurance plans and health insurance programs for older adults.
conclusionsThe results suggest that covering an increasing number of precarious workers with residence-based health insurance plans and providing financial support to the aged population through lower co-payment rates have provided protection against the increasing need for healthcare services caused by rapid changes in the demographic composition and labor markets in Japan.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.