Actual Status of Death at Home in Eldery Patients who Received Home Care Service in Rural Area in Aichi Prefecture

• Published in: JOURNAL OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE Vol. 50; no. 5; pp. 683 - 689
• Main Authors: HAYASHI, Miyuki, ANDOH, Toshiyo, HAYAKAWA, Tomihiro, KANAZAWA, Tamotsu, HASEGAWA, Chihiro, TOZAWA, Hideki, KAWAI, Emiko, MIYAJI, Makoto, TSUZUKI, Tamao, IKEDO, Masaaki, SAKATA, Toshiyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF RURAL MEDICINE 2002
• ISSN: 0468-2513; 1349-7421
• DOI: 10.2185/jjrm.50.683

To clarify what are contributing factors associated with the place to die (home or hospital) in a rural area, we investigated several background factors of 107 patients who died at home or in hospital after receiving home care service during the period of four years from July 1995 to June 2000. The subjects were divided into two group those who died at home (39 cases, 36%) and those who died in our hospital (68 cases, 64%). The ratio of deaths at home increased every year, and reached a half of those who died after receiving home care service. The average age in those who died at home were 87.1±9.5 years, that was higher than that of those who died in our hospital (82.2±9.8 years). There was no difference betwe two groups about sex, basic diseases and the time required to get to the hospital by car. Death at home was more preferred by patients, whereas death in the hospital was preferred by patients' families. The level of activities of daily living (ADL) in those who died at home was lower compared with that in those who died in the hospital. Those who died at home significantly had lesser complaints (pain, dyspnea and so on) and had more care-givers in the family, than those who died in the hospital. These results revealed that the major factors in death at home are: 1) low level of ADL, 2) preference to death at home expressed by patients, 3) presence of additional care-givers, and 4) no complaint of symptoms from patients.