Real Situation of Rehabilitation Therapy from the Viewpoint of Medical Service Fees / The Japanese Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine

ABSTRACT

Purpose：The older population in Japan is increasing faster than that in the rest of the world. As a result of the increasing number of elderly patients, rehabilitation treatment has become very important, resulting in rehabilitation-related medical expenses increasing, However, it is unclear which age groups are administered rehabilitation treatments. In this study, we investigated the age distribution of patients receiving rehabilitation treatment in Japan.Methods：We investigated the age distribution of patients receiving rehabilitation treatment using insurance data.Results：Rehabilitation fees for cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and musculoskeletal diseases peaked in the early 80 years age group, whereas those of disuse syndrome, respiratory diseases, and cancer peaked in the late 80 years. Male patients with cardiovascular diseases were twice as common until 80 years of age. Regarding cerebrovascular diseases, the number of male patients peaked in the late 70s, and there were more male patients in the following age groups. More female patients in the late 80 years age group had disuse syndrome. Rehabilitation fees for musculoskeletal diseases had the highest number of units calculated, with 2.5 times as many female patients as male patients. As for respiratory diseases, more male patients were present in the late 80 years age group. Among patients with cancer, males were about twice as common as females.Conclusion：The peak age of patients receiving rehabilitation treatment was in the 80 years age group, and the number of patients increased every year.