Frequency and characteristics of frequent emergency department visitors in Japan: multicentered retrospective chart review

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K21449
• Project/Area Number (Other): 18H06368 (2018)
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund (2019); Single-year Grants (2018)
• Review Section: 0908:Society medicine, nursing, and related fields
• Research Institution: Yokohama City University (2020); Hamamatsu University School of Medicine (2018-2019)
• Principal Investigator: Makoto Kaneko 横浜市立大学, データサイエンス研究科, 講師 (80825076)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-08-24 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 頻回救急受診 / 救急医療 / 医療費 / プライマリ・ケア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although frequent emergency department (ED) use is a global issue, little research has been conducted in a country like Japan where universal health insurance is available. The study aims to document the proportion of ED visits that are by frequent users. The study was a prevalence study for a period of 1 year. We targeted a secondary hospital and a tertiary hospital in central Japan. The participants were all patients who presented to the EDs. We defined frequent ED user as a patient who visited the ED 5 times/year. The main outcome measures were the proportion of frequent ED users among all ED users and the proportion of healthcare expenditures by the frequent ED users among all ED expenditures.
Of 25 231 ED visits over 1 year, 134 frequent ED users accounted for 1043 visits: 0.66% of all ED users, comprised 4.1% of all ED visits, and accounted for 1.9% of total healthcare expenditures.

Free Research Field

総合診療

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

今回の調査結果では、諸外国の先行研究に比較して、頻回救急外来受診者の割合や医療費に占める割合の少ないことが分かりました。今後は、この結果が日本の他の地域にも当てはまる傾向なのか、もしそうであればなぜ日本では少ないのかなどの研究に繋げていく予定です。また、海外では患者さん・医療機関双方の負担を減らすために頻回救急外来受診を適切に減らす方法が検討されており、日本でもその様な研究に繋がっていくと考えられます。