It have been reported that Kihon checklist (KCL) response associated with mortality and certification of long-term care. However, the characteristics of KCL non-respondents are unknown. We focused on the diseases among their characteristics and their health outcomes including hospitalization and total healthcare costs. The aims of the present study were (1) to describe the characteristics of the diseases of KCL non-respondents and (2) to compare the negative health outcomes (death, hospitalization, being certified for long-term care level 1 and above) and healthcare costs of the Kihon checklist (KCL) respondents and non-respondents among community-dwelling older adults to identify the characteristics and outcomes of KCL non-respondents. In this study, KCL non-respondents include those who did not respond and those who were unable to respond. Data were collected from 39,934 functionally independent older adults living in Kure City, Japan, as of August 2014. To minimize the variation of KCL respondents and non-respondents due to extraneous variables, a non-repeatable one-to-one complete matching was conducted at baseline. For matching, age groups, sex, and residential area were used. A total of 25,820 participants (12,910 in the KCL respondent group and 12,910 in the non-respondent group, respectively) were selected. They were followed for 19 months. At the baseline, the prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders tended to be slightly higher in the KCL non-respondent group, and the prevalence of cerebrovascular diseases and hospitalization was significantly higher for the KCL non-respondent group than for the respondent group. After 19 months, negative health outcomes were significantly less frequent for the KCL respondent group than the non-respondent group (OR = 0.860, 95% CI = 0.811 ~ 0.912). Responding to KCL predicts the occurrence of healthcare costs significantly (OR = 1.665 95% CI = 1.531 ~ 1.811) and the cost of healthcare for 19 months after KCL responses (β = -0.033). KCL non-response was significantly associated with a higher incidence of negative health outcomes. A long-term and detailed future investigation of the characteristics of the non-respondents is needed.
Kazawa et al. (Fri,) studied this question.