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The study explores how the type of medical school influences the likelihood of internal medicine physicians practicing in rural areas.

March 28, 2026Open Access

Medical School Type and Rural Practice among Japanese Internal Medicine Physicians: Analysis of 2018-2022 National Census Data

Key Points

The study explores how the type of medical school influences the likelihood of internal medicine physicians practicing in rural areas.
Analyzed national census data from 2018, 2020, and 2022.
Defined rurality using tertiles of municipal population density.
Examined medical school categories and included regional quota program participation in analysis.
Identified significant relationships between medical school type and rural practice retention or migration.
Found that certain medical school categories were more associated with rural practice compared to others.

Abstract

We aimed to elucidate the relationship between medical school type, and subsequent rural practice among internal medicine (IM) doctors.We analyzed data from the national census of medical doctors for 2018, 2020, and 2022.The primary outcome was retention in or migration to rural areas.Rurality was defined using tertiles of municipal population density.Key independent variables consisted of medical school category, and for an exploratory analysis, participation in a regional quota program was included.Medical schools were categorized as former imperial universities, urban public universities,

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Medical School Type and Rural Practice among Japanese Internal Medicine Physicians: Analysis of 2018-2022 National Census Data

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Abstract

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