AN INVESTIGATION CONCERNING THE INCIDENCE OF ILLNESS IN A FORESTRY-VILLA (NAGURI-MURA, SAITAMA PREFECTUR)
I. DELIBERATION ON THE RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION
1959 Volume 8 Issue 2-3 Pages 116-136
Details
1959 Volume 8 Issue 2-3 Pages 116-136
The author obtained by door-to-door visits the actual incidence of illness among the entire population of Naguri-mura, Saitama prefecture, a village where forest management is their main occupation, during the month of August, 1957 (the then population consisting of 3401 persons) and of May, 1958 (3290 persons). With a view to confirming the authenticity of the data the author obtained by his personal inquiry, he concurrently conducted another investigation of the same subject on the basis of the medical records of the people's health insurance and other kinds of insurances. A comparative study conducted on the results of the above-mentioned two investigations is concluded as follows.
1. Reports on the visits to doctors obtained by the personal inquiry and the results of investigation based on medical records showed about 80% level of congruity on the occasion of the August investigation which was carried out without any previous notice, and about 93% level of congruity at the next May investigation when the villagers were given special instruction and also got more or less familiar with it.
2. Agreement in the names of diseases reported at the personal inquiry and given in the medical records was 63% level for the August investigation and 80% level for the May investigation; the rates of the females were always 10-7% lower than those of the males.
3. About 10% of the cases failed to give correct names of their illness on account of the dim concept they had in regard to the nature of diseases.
4. Those who reported to have consulted doctors while they actually had not turned out to be 17% in the August investigation and 14% in the May investigation-no remarkable difference was obtained.
5. Those who replied as perfectly healthy although in fact found out to have consulted doctors were as many as 37% in the August investigation and 20%in the May investigation.
