Survival prognosis of Japanese with severe motor and intellectual disabilities living in public and private institutions between 1961 and 2003.
BACKGROUND
Although the prognosis for survival in people with severe functional disabilities is a serious concern for their families and health care practitioners, there have been few reports on survival rates for this population. Every year, the Japanese Association of Welfare for Persons with Severe Motor and Intellectual Disability collects anonymous records of individual registrations and deaths from all private and public institutions, excepting national institutions. We used these data to estimate the prognosis for survival.


METHODS
We reviewed the records of 3221 people with severe motor and intellectual disabilities (SMID); all subjects had lived in one of 119 public or private institutions in Japan between 1961 and 2003. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates were calculated according to disability type and birth year range.


RESULTS
Of the 3221 persons, 2645 were alive and 576 had died. The survival rate at the age of 20 for all subjects was 79% (95% confidence interval, 78%-81%). Among people who were unable to sit, those with lower intelligence quotients had lower survival rates.


CONCLUSIONS
The survival rate among people with SMID housed in public and private institutions in Japan was much worse than that of the general population, and has not improved since the 1960s.
Hanaoka
Tomoyuki
T
Bihoro Ryoiku Hospital, Abashiri-gun, Hokkaido, Japan. hanaoka@bihoro-ryoiku.jp
Mita
Katsumi
K
Hiramoto
Azuma
A
Suzuki
Yasuyuki
Y
Maruyama
Shizuo
S
Nakadate
Toshio
T
Kishi
Reiko
R
Okada
Kitoku
K
Egusa
Yasuhiko
Y
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000401:mortality*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D055815:Young Adult