Epidemiologic Studies on Exercise, Self-perception, and Social Interactions by the Elderly-Characterization of Nonparticipating Individuals in the Care Prevention Project

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of elderly people requiring preventative healthcare and factors associated with their participation in preventative healthcare program. We classified 339 individuals (149 participating in preventative care projects and 190 eligible non-participating) into three groups, 1) participants 2) active lifestyle nonparticipants (AL-NP) 3) minimally active lifestyle nonparticipants (ML-NP) by health status and lifestyle activities and compared their characteristics. The ML-NP group exhibited lower levels of all test parameters, suggesting they were at increased risk for requiring care. The factors associated with the ML-NP group were, for females, histories of falls and not engaged in agricultural work, and for males, low self-perceived health, no habitual alcohol use, and not engaged in agricultural work. These results indicate the importance of pro-actively intervening in providing care for the program's nonparticipants, and taking into account factors specific to their circumstances. [INTRODUCTION] In Japan, the number of people requiring care is increasing as the population ages. The Long-term Care Insurance Law has been in force since 2000 as part of Japan's welfare system for its elderly citizens.