2018 Volume 68 Issue 2 Pages 92-100
The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare has been conducting periodontal disease screening as a part of senior health services since 1995, and as an independent medical examination for individuals aged between 40 and 50 years since 2000. This service has been extended for individuals aged between 60 and 70 years since 2004. The consultation rate for periodontal disease screening in Japan has not been reported recently, and so its current status is unknown. In this study, we estimated and assessed periodic and regional differences in the consultation rate for periodontal disease screening over a period of 15 years.
We calculated the consultation rate for periodontal disease screening by dividing the number of individuals screened for periodontal disease (as recorded in the regional health care and health promotion service report), by the total population (as per the Basic Resident Register and multiplying by 100), from the year 2000 to 2015. At the national level, the consultation rate was 1.27% in 2000, 2.74% in 2005, 3.34% in 2010, and 4.30% in 2015. The highest rate in a prefecture was 13.33% and the lowest rate was 0.34% reveling that consultation rates differed markedly among prefectures. Multiple linear regression analysis that factored in socio-demographic variables revealed that prefectures with larger total numbers of oral examinations and health guidance sessions (partial correlation coefficient= 0.356; p=0.016), a larger proportion of health care costs (partial correlation coefficient=0.295; p=0.049), and a higher level of available funds (partial correlation coefficient=0.337; p=0.024), had higher consultation rates.
It was concluded that the total consultation rate showed an increasing trend, while the regional differences widened. The total consultation rate may increase in the future by focusing efforts on improving regional consultation rates.
