Survey on the implementation of blood and urine examinations at Japanese institutions and schools for individuals with intellectual disabilities and/or motor disabilities in 1998.
OBJECTIVE
Few national surveys have been conducted on the health and nutrition of disabled people in Japan, and as a result, the actual health and nutritional status of this population group has not been clarified. The aim of the present study is to clarify the following hypotheses: nutritional assessment is not carried out at institutions and schools for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) and/or motor disabilities (MD), and there are marked differences in implementation rates and assessment methods (i) between institutions and schools and (ii) among the disability categories.


METHODS
Questionnaires were sent to 1,080 selected institutions and schools for individuals with ID and/or MD. For each disability category, the implementation rate of blood and urine tests (14 items) was calculated separately for the institutions and schools.


RESULTS
A total of 826 responses were obtained (response rate: 76.5%); of these, 822 were valid. For all investigated items, implementation rate was significantly higher for the institutions (0-90.3%) when compared to the schools (0-10.2%). The implementation rate of 13 items at institutions for patients with severe intellectual and motor disabilities (4.8-90.3%) was higher than that for institutions for those with intellectual disabilities (0.4-57.0%) or institutions for those with motor disabilities (0-80.0%). The implementation rate of creatinine urinary excretion/24 h and creatinine height index was lower than that for other examinations.


CONCLUSIONS
Large differences in implementation rates were apparent between the institutions and schools. The implementation rate of blood and urine laboratory examinations varied considerably among the disability categories.
Ohwada
Hiroko
H
Department of Food Sciences, Ibaraki Christian University, Japan. h.ohwada@icc.ac.jp
Nakayama
Takeo
T
D003404:Creatinine / Q000652:urine; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006403:Hematologic Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D007564:Japan; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009752:Nutritional Status / Q000502:physiology*; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016482:Urinalysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D003404:Creatinine