Urban-rural differences in hospital beds and employee income: a study using the rurality index for healthcare research in Japan.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study investigated the association between rurality and healthcare employees' income in Japan's secondary medical areas (SMAs), specifically focusing on whether hospital beds, particularly in public hospitals, contribute more to employee income in rural areas than in urban areas at the SMA level. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine these associations using a validated rurality index for healthcare research in Japan (RIJ).

Materials and methods

This ecological cross-sectional study analyzed all the SMAs in Japan using publicly available data. SMAs were categorized into urban and rural areas using the RIJ cutoff values. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between the proportion of employee income in heal

SUBMITTER: Murasawa H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12816959 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature