[Costs of health services for the elderly and related factors in cities of Japan].
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the costs of health services for the elderly in 1994 and to examine factors affecting them.


METHODS
Questionnaires were sent to 631 cities and responses from 339 cities were received. Data obtained from questionnaires were total cost, proportion of labor sent to total cost, cost per user, cost per person eligible to receive Health services for the elderly. These variables were measured for health counseling service, health education, health examinations, functional training, and home-visit guidance.


RESULTS
The proportion of labor cost was smaller for health examinations than for other services. Health examinations and home-visit guidance showed higher correlation coefficients between the number of users and the total cost than other services. In most services, cost per eligible person were negatively correlated with the number of residents in the city and positively correlated with the number of public health nurses per resident. However, costs per user did not show a correlation. The cities which established municipal health centers had lower costs per user of health education and functional training than the cities which did not. Standardized mortality ratios of cerebrovascular disease and stomach cancer were not correlated with total cost, proportion of labor cost, cost per user, cost per eligible person in most services.


CONCLUSIONS
For the economic evaluation of health services for the elderly, it is necessary to examine the relationship between cost, both quantity and quality, and effectiveness of health services.
Takemura
S
S
Department of Public Health, Tokyo University, School of Medicine.
Fukawa
T
T
Nakahara
T
T
Kondo
T
T
D000368:Aged; D002947:Cities; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires