Skip to main content

Table 1 Demographics of the participants (n = 260)

From: Investigating women’s health issues and help-seeking intentions in primary care in Japan: a cross-sectional study

Characteristic

All

N = 260

Women’s health issuesa

At least one

(n = 139)

None

(n = 121)

P Valueb

The numbers of reported women’s health issues, n (%)

 1

 

57 (41)

  

 2

 

41 (30)

  

 3

 

18 (13)

  

 4

 

9 (7)

  

 5

 

7 (4)

  

 6

 

4 (3)

  

 7

 

3 (2)

  

Reason for visit, n (%)

 Self-referral

131 (50)

70 (50)

61 (50)

.993

 Accompanying family members

129 (50)

69 (50)

60 (50)

 

Primary care clinic, n (%)

   

.323

 A

93 (36)

46 (33)

47 (39)

 

 B

44 (17)

25 (18)

19 (16)

 

 C

40 (15)

18 (13)

22 (18)

 

 D

83 (32)

50 (36)

33 (27)

 

Age, yrs. (SD)

40.5 (10.1)

39.8 (9.3)

41.4 (10.9)

.195

Frequency of clinic visit, times/year (SD)

5.2 (4.8)

5.3 (4.5)

5.2 (5.2)

.889

 Missing

3

1

2

 

Self-rated health, n (%)

   

.064

 Good

37 (14)

13 (9)

24 (20)

 

 Somewhat good

86 (33)

43 (31)

43 (36)

 

 Average

88 (34)

51 (37)

37 (31)

 

 Not so good

44 (17)

29 (21)

15 (12)

 

 Not good

4 (2)

2 (1)

2 (2)

 

 Missing

1

1

  

Self-rated economic conditions, n (%)

   

.028

 Very comfortable

12 (5)

7 (5)

5 (4)

 

 Moderately comfortable

45 (17)

27 (19)

18 (15)

 

 Average

154 (59)

70 (50)

84 (69)

 

 Somewhat struggling

43 (17)

30 (22)

13 (11)

 

 Greatly struggling

5 (2)

4 (3)

1 (1)

 

 Missing

1

1

  

Highest level of education completed, n (%)

   

.294

 Junior high school

8 (3)

2 (1)

6 (5)

 

 High school

90 (35)

45 (33)

45 (37)

 

 Vocational school or junior college

94 (36)

54 (39)

40 (33)

 

 University or graduate school

67 (26)

37 (27)

30 (25)

 

 Missing

1

1

  

Cervical cancer screening within the past 2 years, n (%)

   

.659

 Yes

177 (68)

94 (68)

83 (69)

 

 No

55 (21)

28 (20)

27 (23)

 

 Never

26 (10)

16 (12)

10 (8)

 

 Missing

2

1

1

 

Breast cancer screening within the past 2 years, n (%)c

   

.243

 Yes

92 (69)

50 (71)

42 (67)

 

 No

28 (21)

16 (23)

12 (19)

 

 Never

13 (10)

4 (6)

9 (14)

 

Regular visit for OB/GYN clinicd, n (%)

   

.812

 Yes

66 (25)

36 (26)

30 (25)

 

 No

193 (74)

102 (74)

91 (75)

 

 Missing

1

1

  

HLe, mean (SD) score

3.86 (0.58)

3.94 (0.48)

3.78 (0.67)

.030

Missing

5

2

3

 

 Communicative HL

4.05 (0.70)

4.14 (0.57)

3.94 (0.82)

.023

 Missing

4

2

2

 

 Critical HL

3.60 (0.72)

3.63 (0.71)

3.55 (0.73)

.348

 Missing

2

1

1

 
  1. OB/GYN Obstetrics/Gynecology, HL Health literacy, SD Standard deviation
  2. aThe presence of women’s health issues is defined as having at least one concern about dysmenorrhea, hypermenorrhea, menstrual irregularity, uterine prolapse, abnormal vaginal discharge, abnormal uterine bleeding, diseases related to the uterus or/and ovaries, menopausal symptoms, sex-related issues including sexual orientation/gender identity and sexual dysfunction, genital symptoms, contraception, breast-related issues including breast lumps, abnormal nipple discharge or/and breastfeeding, pregnancy or infertility, or gynecologic cancer
  3. bBy chi-square test for nominal variables and independent t-test for continuous variables
  4. cOnly for those aged 40 and older (n = 133)
  5. dDefined as having been to obstetrics/gynecology specialists within the past year
  6. eAssessed using the instrumental tool by Ishikawa et al. [18]
  7. Table 1 shows the demographics of the participants. Approximately half of all respondents visited to seek their own care. The average age of the respondents was 40.5 years old, and they had an average of 5.2 clinic visits a year. A majority of them had graduated from high school (96.5%) and had updated cervical and breast cancer screening tests within the past 2 years (68 and 69%, respectively). Approximately three-quarters of them (74%) had not been to an OB/GYN in the past year. One hundred thirty-nine (54%) reported at least one women’s health issue. The number of women was highest at one women’s health issue and lowest at seven women’s health issues, revealing a descending trend. There were similarities observed in age, frequency of clinic visit, cancer screening status and regular visit for OB/GYN clinic between those who had at least one women’s health issue and those who reported none. The participants with women’s health issues tended to have a higher score on health literacy, while those without women’s health issues tended to report better self-rated health and give more neutral responses to self-rated economic conditions
Back to article page

BMC Primary Care

ISSN: 2731-4553

Contact us