| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2001: ¥1,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
Subjects and Methods : A questionnaire survey was conducted on senior citizens 65 years of age or older living at home in Hiroshima City during the period between September 1996 and November 1996, and 729 individuals (201 males and 528 females) responded. A follow-up study on these 729 individuals was continued until December 1999, and follow-up information on life expectancy has been obtained. The questionnaire survey in 1996 was sent out by mail, and a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 24 questions, which was developed as part of the MHW's FY1996 project, "Measures for Assisting Elderly Care Based on Studies of ADL Limiting Factors and QOL (Quality of Life) in the Aged," was used. The ADL items of this questionnaire comprised six questions on activities of daily living at home (Basic ADL ; e.g. eating and excretory functions) and 13 questions on social activities (Social ADL). In addition, the questionnaire included three questions on QOL, 17 questions on morbidity, and three questions on public health, medical care and welfare services. Life expectancy was divided into cancer mortality and non-cancer mortality, and by obtaining sex-/age-adjusted mortality rates, the factors related to life-expectancy prediction were analyzed on the basis of ADL limiting factors and morbidity. In the four-year follow-up study, 27 deaths from cancer and 51 deaths from non-cancer causes were observed.
Results : Significant factors that were observed to affect cancer mortality were as follows : history of liver disease and presence of dementia. Concerning non-cancer mortality, such factors included need of assistance in changing clothes, inability to visit the sick or injured, and lack of satisfaction in life. Intervention is possible in several of these factors. Also, it was assumed that a healthier society of senior citizens could be realized by promoting the prevention of diseases, such as stroke, that greatly decrease ADL.
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