Epidemiological profile of emergency medical services in Japan: a population‐based descriptive study in 2016

Aim The aim of our study is to describe the characteristics of patients who use emergency medical services (EMS), EMS performance, and regional variations in Japan. Methods We undertook a nationwide, population‐based, descriptive review of anonymized ambulance transport records obtained from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency in Japan. All emergency patients transported to emergency medical institutions by EMS personnel from January to December 2016 were enrolled in this study, excluding patients who were not transported. Results During the study period, 5,097,838 patients were transported to a hospital. Their median age was 69 years, 51.4% were male, and 56.5% were over 65 years old. Median durations from EMS call to EMS arrival on scene were similar among the regions, ranging from 7 to 9 min. However, the longest median duration from EMS call to hospital arrival was 38 min, and the shortest was 31 min across the regions. Among all patients, 350,865 (6.9%) were assessed as being in a severe condition, 14,410 (0.3%) were in very severe condition, and 74,780 (1.5%) were confirmed to be dead at the time of initial medical examination in the emergency department. Conclusions We described the characteristics of emergency patients and EMS performance in Japan. This registry serves as a basis for providing relevant information to improve prehospital emergency medical systems. This observational study describes the characteristics of emergency patients and emergency medical services (EMS) performance in Japan in 2016. We report the results from 5,097,838 patients transported to an emergency medical institution by EMS personnel. We assessed comprehensive data on the characteristics of the emergency patients, EMS performance, and underlying regional variations.