Assessing functional capacity of the elderly through a basic medical check-up in community setting

Abstract

  The present study investigated functional capacity of the elderly to evaluate the policy and make basic data for “the special elderly at risk of needing care”. Subjects were 72512 participants of community-based health checkups in Fukushima Prefecture. Their evaluation of functional capacity followed a guideline developed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Higher proportions of old-old elderly were in need of medical care, with a significant decline in functional capacity, and met the criteria of program of care compared with young-old elderly. Prevalence of “special elderly at risk of needing care” in our study was 2.66%, due in part to a high proportion of “healthy elderly” among the participants of community-based health checkups. Functional evaluation among non-participants among old-old elderly of health checkups should be considered.