 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
|
| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Yoshiharu Fukuda, MD, PhD, Takehito Takano, MD, PhD, Keiko Nakamura, MD, PhD, and Sugako Kurimori, MS. Health Promotion/International Health, Tokyo Medical and Dental Univerity, Yushima 1-5-45, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8519, Japan, +81-3-5803-5189, fukuda.hlth@tmd.ac.jp
This study aimed to demonstrate the geographical variation in morbidity of long-term illness and disability among the elderly population in Japan, and the influence of age-distribution of a region and the degree of illness and disability to the geographical variation. Using the data of long-term care insurance, rates of the certificated persons aged 65 years or over requiring nursing care (the crude rate, age-adjusted rates for total care levels and each care level of sixth levels) by prefecture (n=47) were calculated. Even after age-standardization, the certification rates showed noticeable variation among prefectures: the prefecture with the highest rate had an excess of more than 50% compared with the lowest. The rate of total care levels was correlated with the rates of lower care levels more strongly than the rates of higher levels, and there was little correlation between the rates of lower and higher levels. This study indicates that age distribution should be taken into consideration for regional comparison of the certification rate, though the influence on the variation in the rate is relatively weak. In addition, it is suggested that morbidity of long-term illness among the elderly population showed different pattern of the geographical variation by the degree of disability.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Long-Term Care, Elderly
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.