Recorded presentation

Miyuki Ishikawa¹, Takaaki Kondo, MD, PhD², Koji Tamakoshi, MD, PhD², Hiroshi Yatsuya, MD, PhD², and Hideaki Toyoshima, MD, PhD². (1) Depaertment of Public Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65, Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan, 052-744-2128, miyuki@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp, (2) Department of Public Health, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan

PurposeFRecently, homebound status is one of the important issues of the elderly in Japan. This study aims to identify the factors related to the homebound status of the community dwelling elderly. Subject : We collected data from 281 subjects (55.7%women, 65+),who lived in a rural area and were independent in activity of daily living at baseline in 2000. Method : We used questionnaire consisting of 61 factors representing physical, psycho-social, environmental aspects. Homebound status was defined as that outing activities are once or less per week.The proportion of the homebound was compared between the groups with and without factors shown in the 61 factors. Result : The prevalence of homebound elderly was 19.9% in 2000. The prevalence increased with the advance of age only in men (p<0.05) (Cochran-Armitage test). 18 factors out of 61 showed a significant association (p<0.05) with the homebound status. Factors such as "self-confidence for outing"(p<0.001), " frequency of conversation"(p<0.001)," walking to meeting place in the community" (p<0.001) and two other factors were significantly related in both men and women. Factor of self-support ability such as "regular mealtimes" (p<0.05) and six additional factors were significant only in men, and society-related factor such as "interest in dress up" (p<0.01) and five other factors were significant only in women. Conclusion : Our data suggested that there were 18 factors out of 61 showed a significant association with homebound status. Gender differences were observed among factors related the homebound status.

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