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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Are there inequities in the assessment of dementia under Japan's LTC insurance system? | | Author(s) | Y Arai, S H Zarit, K Kumamoto |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 18, no 4, April 2003 |
| Pages | pp 346-352 |
| Keywords | Dementia ; Evaluation ; Health insurance ; Insurance [elderly] ; Grant allocation ; Japan. |
| Annotation | Just 2 years after its inception, Japan's Long-term Care (LTC) insurance system is facing considerable criticism about whether or not it has developed a fair and appropriate way of allocating resources to disabled older people, especially those with dementia. This study investigated: the relation of the Government Certified Disability Index (GCDI) of the LTC insurance system to characteristics of those with dementia and their family caregivers; and whether the GCDI scores adequately reflect the needs of those with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) and vascular type dementia (VaD). The GCDI was found to be associated with patients' activities of daily living (ADLs) and MMSE scores, and not with behavioural disturbances or caregivers' budgets. Compared to VaD patients, those with DAT tended to have more behavioural disturbances but better ADL functioning. As a result, DAT patients were classified as "less disabled" on their GCDI than VaD patients, even though their caregivers felt as much burden as those of VaD patients. The GCDI probably underestimates the impact of behaviour problems. Suggestions are made for a more balanced assessment of dementia patients that is more consistent with their needs. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-030515212 A |
| Classmark | EA: 4C: WPG: JG: QCG: 7DT |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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