Socioeconomic Differences in Health and Health Care in Japan

1994至1996财政年度进行的这项研究的结果如下：1)东京都市圈中年男性死亡率的区域特征及影响因素。东京和邻近4个县的城市/区35至59岁男性的死亡率存在区域差异。这些死亡率差异与居民的社会经济特征相关。观察了1970年代末至1990年代初各城市/区中年男子死亡率的分布格局。2)日本第二和第三部门中年男性工人健康相关生活方式的职业差异。在20 234名年龄在30岁至59岁之间的男性工人中，发现了与健康有关的生活方式和主观健康的职业差异和特征。这些特征似乎是由工作时间、工作环境、工作方式和工作压力等职业环境形成和影响的。3)日本中老年男性健康状况、医疗态度、卫生服务利用的社会经济差异。健康状况受收入水平的影响，即低收入人群的健康状况比其他人群差。从教育水平和职业类别可以看出对医疗保健态度的差异。保健服务的利用情况因社会经济地位的不同而差别不大。4)西方工业化国家健康方面的社会不平等及其因果解释。最近十年在西方工业化国家进行的许多关于健康方面的社会不平等的研究表明，有证据表明，在各种健康指标、若干因果解释及其对社会政策的影响方面，每个年龄组的男女社会经济存在差异。

The results of this study being conducted from fiscal 1994 to 1996 are the following points.1) Regional characteristics and factors of the death rate of the middle aged men in Tokyo metropolitan area.There were regional differences in the death rate of the male aged 35 to 59 years in the cities/wards located in Tokyo and neighboring 4 prefectures.Those differences of the death rate were correlated with the inhabitants socioeconomic characteristics.There distribution pattern of the death rate of the middle aged men by city/ward were observed from the late 1970s till the early 1990s.2) Occupational differences in health-related life-styles among middle-aged male workers in secondary and tertiary sectors in Japan.Occupational differences and features in health-related life-style and subjective health were seen among 20,234 male workers aged between 30 and 59.These features seemed to be formed and influenced by occupational circumstances such as hours of work, work environment, working style, and job strain.3) Socioeconomic differences in health status, attitudes to medical care, utillization of health services among Japanese middle and higher aged men.Health status was influenced by income level, that is to say, peple who were low income worse than others. Differences in attitudes to medical care were seen by the level of education and occupational category. Utilization of health services were seen little differences by socioeconomic status.4) Social inequalities in health and its causal explanation in western industrialized countries.Many studies on social inequalities in health being conducted during a recent decade in western industrialized counntries showed the evidence of socioeconomic differences of every aged group in both sexes in diverse health indicators, several causal exphlanations, and its implications for social policy.