Impact of frailty on medical and long-term care expenditures and verification of frailty preventive effect of disability prevention programs in an older Japanese population

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K08817
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Hygiene and public health
• Research Institution: Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIDA HIROTO 東北文化学園大学, 健康社会システム研究科, 教授 (40415493)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: フレイル / FI-J / 貯筋体操 / 医療費 / 介護予防

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined the impact of frailty on medical and long-term care expenditures and verification of frailty preventive effect of disability prevention programs in an older Japanese population. The subjects were those aged 75 years and over (n=758) who responded to the survey (2018) in Bibai, Hokkaido, Japan. We defined frailty as a state in performing 4 items and over of 15 items (Frailty Index for Japanese elderly, FI-J) which were composed of un-intentional weight loss, history of falls, etc. Among 758 subjects, 175 subjects (23.1%) were judged to be frailty group, and 583 subjects (76.9%) non-frailty group. The mean medical expenditures per capita in fiscal 2017 were 820,000 yen in frailty group, while those in non- frailty group were 520,000 yen.
Additionally, we confirmed frailty preventive effect of disability prevention programs conducted in Bibai by comparing incident of frailty between the disability prevention programs participants group and non- participants group.

Free Research Field

公衆衛生学、医療経済学、老年学