Human Mobility and Medical Costs of Lifestyle-related Diseases during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study in Japan

Abstract

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on human mobility caused health problems. Therefore, it is valuable to evaluate the human mobility restrictions during the pandemic from the population health viewpoint. This study aimed to clarify the correlation between changes in human mobility types and medical costs of lifestyle-related diseases during the pandemic. Boosted tree analysis analyzed the nonlinear relationship between human mobility types and medical costs of lifestyle-related diseases in Japan. The results of this analysis indicated that medical costs were differently affected by walking, driving, and public transit, depending on the type of prefecture. Increasing walking by over 70% reduced the medical costs of lifestyle-related diseases, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. In metropolitan prefectures, the total effect on medical cost was higher for walking and public transit. In addition, medical costs decreased by gradually increasing public transit use by over 110%. On the other hand, in other prefectures, the total effect of public transit was lower than driving, and medical costs increased from 80% to 160%. These results were significant because they indicated the target value for each human mobility type in metropolitan areas and other prefectures. In conclusion, this analysis indicated that increasing walking and public transit use correlated with a decreasing in the medical costs of lifestyle-related diseases even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results were significant because they indicate the target value for each human mobility type according to the metropolitan and the other prefectures. Based on the target values, governments can take measures other than restricting walking and public transit use during the pandemic.