Household income and medical help-seeking for fertility problems among a representative population in Japan

Iba, Arisa; Maeda, Eri; Jwa, Seung Chik; Yanagisawa-Sugita, Ayako; Saito, Kazuki; Kuwahara, Akira; Saito, Hidekazu; Terada, Yukihiro; Ishihara, Osamu; Kobayashi, Yasuki

doi:10.1186/s12978-021-01212-w

Reproductive Health

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of participants according to fertility status and medical help-seeking

From: Household income and medical help-seeking for fertility problems among a representative population in Japan

	Fertile (n = 3812)		Subfertile (n = 2253)		p^a	Subfertile (aforementioned)				p^a
	Fertile (n = 3812)		Subfertile (n = 2253)			Non-help-seekers (n = 1071)		Help-seekers (n = 1154)
	n	%	n	%		n	%	n	%
Wife’s age, years
≤ 29	310	8.1	135	6.0	0.80	87	8.1	47	4.1	< 0.001
30–34	516	14	339	15		183	17	151	13
35–39	763	20	542	24		272	25	264	23
≥ 40	2223	58	1237	55		529	49	692	60
Husband’s age, years
≤ 29	210	5.6	95	4.2	0.40	63	5.9	30	2.6	< 0.001
30–34	446	12	290	13		173	16	114	10
35–39	621	16	447	20		227	21	215	19
≥ 40	2504	66	1,404	63		599	56	787	69
Length of the marriage, years
≤ 4	546	15	415	19	< 0.001	248	24	161	14	< 0.001
5–9	703	19	557	25		275	26	277	25
10–14	760	20	512	23		219	21	287	25
≥ 15	1708	46	720	33		305	29	405	36
Wife’s educational level
High school education or less	1586	42	694	31	< 0.001	359	34	326	28	0.01
Vocational or junior college education	1473	39	985	44		452	42	520	45
University education or higher	747	20	568	25		257	24	305	26
Other	5	0.1	2	0.1		0	0.0	2	0.2
Husband’s educational level
High school education or less	1659	44	788	35	< 0.001	416	39	362	31	< 0.001
Vocational or junior college education	670	18	428	19		201	19	223	19
University education or higher	1451	38	1025	46		446	42	565	49
Other	9	0.2	2	0.1		0	0.0	2	0.2
Wife’s employment status
Full-time worker	849	23	577	26	< 0.001	283	27	286	25	0.78
Part-time worker	1543	41	772	35		361	34	400	35
Self-employed	222	5.9	119	5.4		58	5.5	61	5.3
Unemployed	1125	30	752	34		350	33	394	35
Husband’s employment status
Full-time worker	2829	79	1,739	81	0.20	815	81	905	82	0.90
Part-time worker	241	6.7	137	6.4		69	6.9	67	6.0
Self-employed	448	13	235	11		110	11	122	11
Unemployed	57	1.6	27	1.3		13	1.3	14	1.3
Household income^b
Low	659	18	330	16	0.001	186	19	139	13	< 0.001
Lower-middle	945	26	527	25		263	26	258	24
Upper-middle	844	23	519	24		249	25	268	24
High	1145	32	743	35		302	30	429	39
Number of existing children
0	404	11	507	23	< 0.001	241	23	259	23	0.06
1	832	22	738	33		326	31	404	35
2	1812	48	785	35		381	36	394	34
≥ 3	740	20	211	9.4		118	11	92	8.0
Living with parents
Yes	1076	29	562	25	0.004	270	26	283	25	0.80
No	2639	71	1645	75	0.004	785	74	844	75	0.80
Desire to have a child
Yes	1552	42	1503	68	< 0.001	709	68	780	69	0.51
No	2170	58	705	32	< 0.001	341	32	353	31	0.51
Residential region
Hokkaido	129	3.4	60	2.7	0.27	31	2.9	27	2.3	0.44
Tohoku	237	6.2	148	6.6		79	7.4	68	5.9
Kanto	1262	33	776	34		375	35	393	34
Chubu	794	21	480	21		231	22	244	21
Kinki	625	16	354	16		154	14	195	17
Chugoku/Shikoku	351	9.2	223	10		99	9.2	121	10
Kyushu/Okinawa	414	11	212	9.4		102	10	106	9.2
Population size and density
Non-densely inhabited district	1089	29	591	26	0.06	298	28	287	25	0.01
< 200,000 inhabitants	909	24	555	25		286	27	260	23
200,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants	1089	29	643	29		279	26	358	31
> 1,000,000 inhabitants	725	19	464	21		208	19	249	22

JPY Japanese Yen
^aChi-squared test for nominal variables and Wilcoxon-type test for trend for ordinal variables
^bCategorized into four groups: low (< 4 million JPY), lower-middle (≥ 4 million JPY to < 6 million JPY), upper-middle (≥ 6 million JPY to < 8 million JPY), and high (≥ 8 million JPY)

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ISSN: 1742-4755

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