PC1-1 Environmental and Behavioral Conditions of Bathing in Japanese Elderly Persons

This study attempted to show bathing conditions of Japanese elderly persons and to search for factors relating to regional differences in death rates from bathtub accidents. A questionnaire survey was carried out in 11 areas：Sapporo, Akita, Sendai, northern and southern Chiba, Shizuoka, Toyama, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima. Questionnaires, including questions regarding the length of time since houses had been built, facilities, indoor thermal sensation, behavior while bathing and so on, were distributed to detached houses in each area twice in summer and winter. Answers on behavioral conditions while bathing were investigated in approximately 160 elderly persons over 65 years of age. With respect to house facilities, the houses that were relatively new and located in the northern region had a larger percentage of molding baths. A larger percentage of double or layer window glass in the bathroom was also found in the northern region. Information regarding thermal sensations of rooms in winter revealed that the molding bath and the insulating window glass eased the cold in the bathroom. Unexpectedly, more subjects in the southern region responded that they were cold or a little cold while bathing in winter than those in the northern region. This may be partly because of cold acclimatization for the northern subjects and their advantageous house facilities for the colder environments. In the present study, thermal sensation and behavior while bathing seemed to be more affected by facilities and the location of houses than by the sex and age of subjects. It is difficult to clarify the relationship between bathing conditions and the death rate from bathtub accidents in each region, and further investigations like case studies are needed.