Table 1.
Characteristics of oncology specialists and pharmaceutical payments received by individual doctors
| Variable | |
| Characteristics of oncology specialists (n=1080) | |
| Sex (N, %) | |
| Men | 907 (84.0) |
| Women | 173 (16.0) |
| Working institutions (N, %) | |
| University hospitals | 442 (40.9) |
| Cancer hospitals | 183 (16.9) |
| Other types of institutions | 455 (42.1) |
| Working regions (N, %) | |
| Hokkaido | 52 (4.8) |
| Tohoku | 58 (5.4) |
| Kanto | 302 (28.0) |
| Chubu | 194 (18.0) |
| Kinki | 208 (19.3) |
| Chugoku | 88 (8.2) |
| Shikoku | 43 (4.0) |
| Kyushu | 135 (12.5) |
| Year of certification (N, %) | |
| 2006 | 45 (4.2) |
| 2007 | 77 (7.1) |
| 2008 | 71 (6.6) |
| 2009 | 98 (9.1) |
| 2010 | 133 (12.3) |
| 2011 | 130 (12.0) |
| 2012 | 124 (11.5) |
| 2013 | 143 (13.2) |
| 2014 | 98 (9.1) |
| 2015 | 85 (7.9) |
| 2016 | 76 (7.0) |
| Specialty (N, %) | |
| Respirology | 285 (26.4) |
| Gastroenterology | 278 (25.7) |
| Haematology | 250 (23.2) |
| Breast | 72 (6.7) |
| Head and neck | 12 (1.1) |
| Gynaecology | 10 (0.9) |
| Urology | 9 (0.8) |
| Dermatology | 2 (0.2) |
| Other or undetermined | 162 (15.0) |
| Characteristics of payments (n=1080) | |
| Total monetary value of payments | 585 453 314 (3 963 800) |
| Total count of payments | 7325 |
| Type of payments (¥ (£), %) | |
| Speaking | 467 802 690 (3 167 249), 79.9 |
| Consulting | 94 682 807 (641 048), 16.2 |
| Writing | 22 266 186 (150 753), 3.8 |
| Missing | 701 631 (4 750), 0.1 |
| Payment per individual specialist | |
| Median value per individual specialist (¥ (£), IQR) | 120 016 (813) (0(0)–449 378 (3043)) |
| Median count per individual specialist (IQR) | 2 (0–7) |
| Number of oncology specialists with payment (N, %) | |
| Any | 763 (70.6) |
| 1 million yen (£6800) or above | 142 (13.1) |
| 5 million yen (£33 900) or above | 19 (1.8) |
| 10 million yen (£67 700)or above | 2 (0.2) |
| Monetary value of payment according to specialties (¥ (£), %) | |
| Respirology | 216 806 522 (1 467 884), 37.0 |
| Gastroenterology | 139 690 202 (945 770), 23.9 |
| Haematology | 119 219 713 (807 175), 20.4 |
| Breast | 49 287 661 (333 701), 8.4 |
| Head and neck | 9 213 401 (62 379), 1.6 |
| Gynaecology | 570 533 (3 863), 0.1 |
| Urology | 7 862 285 (53 231), 1.3 |
| Dermatology | 562 502 (3,808), 0.1 |
| Other or undetermined | 42 240 495 (285 988), 7.2 |
We converted Japanese yen to pound sterling (£), using the average monthly exchange rate for 2016, namely 147.7 yen per £1.