Health-care-seeking behaviours of the Japanese lay public during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION Owing to a decrease in visits to health-care facilities due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the health-care-seeking behaviour of the Japanese lay public has yet to be adequately clarified. AIM To explore health-care-seeking behaviour of the Japanese lay public during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. METHODS We conducted a web-based questionnaire survey in September 2020 to enquire about visits to health-care facilities for disease treatment and preventive services (health check-ups or cancer screening tests) during two periods mid-February to May 2020 and from June to September 2020. Survey respondents were selected from people who voluntarily registered with a Japanese consumer research company, excluding health-care workers. Respondents' residence and sex were adjusted to represent the Japanese population. Survey results were aggregated after anonymizing respondents' personal information. RESULTS In total, 2137 people responded to the survey. The proportion of respondents who avoided new and follow-up visits to health-care facilities were 31.1% and 25.0%, respectively, in the first period and 19.1% and 12.5%, respectively, in the second period. In both periods, dentistry and general medicine were the most avoided health-care sites. Trying to avoid infection was the main motivation for this behaviour. Nearly half of respondents stated that they would not visit health facilities after the COVID-19 infection became controlled. DISCUSSION During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japanese lay public indicated that they would avoid new and follow-up visits to health-care facilities. The highlighted changes in health-care-seeking behaviour may be long-term, even after COVID-19 is under control.