[Activities in daily life and changes in care level among users of Preventive Care Service under Long-Term Care Insurance].

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between social roles (engaged in working outside or house work) or hobbies and changes in care level among users of Preventive Care Service under Long-Term Care Insurance. A total of 8,734 Preventive Care Service users were analyzed. The assessment was conducted between February 2007 and December 2008. The improvement, maintenance, and aggravation in care level were defined by changes in care level from the beginning to the end. To assess their activities in daily life, the participants were asked, "Which is the major activity in your daily life? Please select one from the following: working outside, house work, hobbies, watching television, others, or none." We used the multiple logistic regression model to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the maintenance or improvement in care level according to the category of activity. As compared with subjects who answered none, the multivariate adjusted ORs (95% CI) of the maintenance or improvement in care level were 2.0 (1.4-2.9) for those who answered working outside, 1.5 (1.2-1.8) for those who answered house work, and 1.5 (1.2-1.9) for those who answered hobbies. However, those who answered watching television or others did not show a significant association with the maintenance or improvement in care level. In this study, compared with subjects who answered none, those who answered that they were engaged in working outside, house work, or hobbies were associated with having significantly higher ORs of the maintenance or improvement in care level.