Impact of the active job openings-to-applicants ratio on the number of ambulance dispatches: a longitudinal ecological study

Abstract

Abstract Background An increase in the number of ambulance dispatches has been a common issue in developed countries. Although many previous studies have investigated the factors that contribute to this increase, none have examined the macroeconomic indicators. This study examined the contribution of the active job openings-to-applicants ratio, a macroeconomic indicator, to the number of ambulance dispatches. Methods This study was a longitudinal ecological study. All ambulance dispatches in Japan between January 2003 and December 2021 were included. The contribution of the active job openings-to-applicants ratio in a month, adjusted by the number of older people, mean temperature, and total population, to the number of ambulance dispatches in that specific month was examined and the new model was compared to the conventional model considering only the older population, mean temperature, and total population. Results There were 108,724,969 ambulance dispatches during this period. The active job openings-to-applicants ratio was significantly associated with the number of ambulance dispatches (incidence rate ratio per month, 1.00081; 95% confidence interval, 1.00052–1.00112). Additionally, the primary model effectively demonstrated better fitness to the actual trend than the conventional model (the quasi-likelihood under the independence model criteria were − 2,626,817,722 and − 2,626,775,188, respectively). Conclusions The number of ambulance dispatches was correlated with the active job openings-to-applicants ratio. Macroeconomic perspectives may be needed to address the issue of increasing ambulance dispatches.