2017 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 5-10
This study was aimed to analyze the relationships between average travel times to perinatal medical centers and perinatal outcome from the perspective of secondary medical districts in Japan, by using a geographical information system.
The median value of the travel time was 19.1 minutes, the average value was 24.1 (standard deviation 13.6), the minimum value was 6.1 minutes, and the maximum value was 67.8 minutes. We set the travel time to perinatal medical centers as explanatory variables, and the infant, neonatal and perinatal mortality rate as explained variables, and then calculated odds ratio of each mortality rate which showed over the third quartile using logistic regression analysis. As a result, in all of the indicators, the odds ratios tended to increase as the travel times became longer. We need to examine centralization of perinatal hospitals based on accessibility while maintaining the current outcome level.
