Current Status in Fiscal Year 2022 and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic to Insurance Covered PET Examinations Using NDB Open Data

Abstract

Using National Database of Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups of Japan (NDB) Open Data, we investigated the current status of insurance covered PET examinations in FY2022. The number of examinations based on sex and age showed different trends for each drug and device. The number of positron emission tomography (PET) examinations also differed from prefecture to prefecture. Comparing the number of examinations per month in FY2020–2022, during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, to FY 2019, a decrease of up to 20％ was observed in May 2020, at the early stages of the pandemic.