Predictors for Increasing Eligibility Level among Home Help Service Users in the Japanese Long-Term Care Insurance System

Table 1

Comparison of characteristics between subjects in care level 1 or lower and those in care level 2.

	Care level 1 to less; (𝑁=278, *𝑁=210)	Care level 2; (𝑁=139, *𝑁=98)	Statistics	𝑃 value
Age [yo]	82.94±5.88	82.97±7.26	𝑡=−0.041	0.97
Female	195 (70.1%)	113 (81.3%)	𝜒^2=5.968	0.02
Living alone	177 (63.7%)	73 (52.5%)	𝜒^2=4.799	0.03
Service use
Home bath service	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Visiting nurse	17 (6.1%)	28 (20.1%)	𝜒^2=18.944	0.00
Home rehabilitation	14 (5.0%)	12 (8.6%)	𝜒^2=2.051	0.20
Nursing home daycare	15 (5.4%)	23 (16.5%)	𝜒^2=13.913	<0.01
Health daycare	99 (35.6%)	64 (46.0%)	𝜒^2=4.235	0.04
Respite stay in a nursing home	3 (1.1%)	11 (7.9%)	𝜒^2=13.341	<0.01
Medical history
Cancer	57 (20.5%)	27 (19.4%)	𝜒^2=0.067	0.90
Stroke	27 (9.7%)	32 (23.0%)	𝜒^2=11.366	<0.01
Heart disease	76 (27.3%)	37 (26.6%)	𝜒^2=0.024	0.91
Fracture of lower leg	52 (18.7%)	31 (22.3%)	𝜒^2=0.752	0.44
Compression fracture of the spine	33 (11.9%)	21 (15.1%)	𝜒^2=0.862	0.36
Rheumatoid arthritis	12 (4.3%)	7 (5.0%)	𝜒^2=0.11	0.81
BMI [kg/m^2]	22.3±4.2	21.3±4.1	𝑡=−1.19	0.24
Grip strength [kg]	19.1±6.9	15.1±6.7	𝑡=5.528	<0.01
CC [cm]	32.5±3.4	31±39	𝑡=3.795	<0.01
Memory impairment (MIS score ≦ 4)	68 (24.5%)	41 (29.5%)	𝜒^2=1.217	0.29
PMADL-8*	24.28±4.877	27.8±3.675	𝑡=−6.986	<0.01
Participation scale*	13.93±3.715	16.62±2.646	𝑡=−7.261	<0.01
Social support scale*	15.78±4.09	15.51±4.593	𝑡=0.503	0.62

BMI: body mass index; CC: calf circumference; MIS: memory impairment screen; PMADL-8: performance measure for activities of daily living 8. Values are mean ± SD or 𝑛 (%).
∗The number of subjects for questionnaires including PMADL-8, Participation scale, and Social support scale.