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A multicenter study of 506 adults receiving physician-led home care in Tokyo and Ibaraki found that 94.7% had at least two chronic conditions, and 57.1% had four or more. Patients with higher condition counts were more likely to need an emergency home visit, though the study does not establish that multimorbidity caused those visits.
A study of 506 adults receiving physician-led home care in Tokyo and Ibaraki Prefecture found that 94.7% had at least two chronic conditions, the definition of multimorbidity used by the researchers. The University of Tsukuba-led team also found that patients with more conditions were more likely to have needed an emergency home visit, a finding that could help care teams identify patients for closer planning.
The researchers used medical-record information to count participants’ chronic conditions and examine whether those counts were associated with emergency home visits. The study defined these as unscheduled physician visits requested after a sudden change in a patient’s condition. In total, 13.2% of patients had at least one such visit in the month before the assessment.
More than half of the participants, 57.1%, had four or more chronic conditions. The team compared patients by the number of conditions they had. Compared with those who had two or three, patients with four or five—and particularly those with six or more—were significantly more likely to require an emergency home visit, according to the study.
The findings were published in the Journal of General and Family Medicine in a paper by Gen Nakayama and colleagues, titled “Multimorbidity Among Patients Receiving Home Care in Japan: Prevalence, Levels, and Association With Emergency Home Visits.” The article lists the study’s DOI as 10.1002/jgf2.70170.
Condition Counts May Guide Home-Care Planning
The results point to a practical way care teams might help organize attention for patients who receive medical care at home: a simple count of chronic conditions could flag people more likely to need an unscheduled visit. The researchers suggest that these patients may benefit from more proactive care planning. That is a potential application of the association, not proof that a particular planning approach will prevent emergencies.
For patients and families, the findings underline how often home-based medical care involves managing several long-term health problems at once. For health services, the high prevalence may be relevant when considering how to assess needs and plan physician-led home care as Japan’s population ages. The study does not report that all patients with multiple conditions experience sudden deterioration: 13.2% had an emergency visit in the measured month.
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How the Japanese Home-Care Study Worked
Home-based medical care allows physicians to visit people who have difficulty going to clinics or hospitals. The report notes that more older adults in Japan are receiving this kind of care as the population ages. Although multimorbidity has long been recognized as common among home-care patients, the researchers said relatively few studies had assessed its prevalence in this group.
To address that gap, the University of Tsukuba researchers conducted a multicenter study involving patients receiving physician-led home care from medical facilities in Tokyo and Ibaraki Prefecture. They reviewed medical records, counted chronic conditions, and compared those counts with emergency home visits. The paper’s focus was both the prevalence and levels of multimorbidity, and its association with those visits—not a test of a treatment or care-planning intervention.
“A simple count of chronic conditions may help health care professionals identify home care patients at increased risk of sudden health deterioration who may benefit from more proactive care planning.”
— The study authors, as summarized in the report
Limits on What the Findings Establish
The reported results show an association between higher numbers of chronic conditions and emergency home visits, but they do not establish that having more conditions caused a visit. The available report does not provide details such as the participants’ age distribution, the specific conditions counted, or how the researchers accounted for other factors that might affect emergency care needs.
The study covered 506 patients at facilities in two prefectures. The report does not say whether the results represent all Japanese home-care patients or whether the same pattern would be found in other regions or care settings. It also does not describe follow-up beyond the emergency visits measured for the previous month. The evidence therefore supports the reported prevalence and association in this study group, not a nationwide estimate or a prediction for an individual patient.
Further Evidence and Care Planning
The study authors’ suggested next step is to consider whether chronic-condition counts can help care professionals identify patients who may need more proactive planning. The report does not announce a follow-up trial, a change to Japanese care policy, or a specific new program. It is also not clear whether the researchers plan further studies or what additional evidence would be needed to test whether tailored planning changes emergency-visit rates.
For now, the published findings offer a snapshot of multimorbidity and emergency home visits among the participating patients. Further research across a broader range of patients and care settings could clarify how widely the results apply and whether a condition count is useful alongside other clinical information.
Key Questions
What did the Japanese home-care study find?
Among 506 adults receiving physician-led home care in Tokyo and Ibaraki, 94.7% had at least two chronic conditions. The study also found that patients with higher condition counts were more likely to have an emergency home visit.
How did the researchers define multimorbidity?
The study defined multimorbidity as having two or more chronic conditions. It also reported that 57.1% of participants had four or more.
How common were emergency home visits?
13.2% of participants had at least one emergency home visit in the previous month. The report defines these as unscheduled physician visits requested after a sudden change in a patient’s condition.
Does the study show that multiple conditions cause emergency visits?
No. It reports an association between higher condition counts and emergency visits. The findings do not show that multimorbidity caused those visits or that changing care plans would prevent them.
Where and when was the research published?
The study appeared in the Journal of General and Family Medicine in 2026. The report dated September 29, 2026, identifies the research as a multicenter study of patients in Tokyo and Ibaraki Prefecture.
Source: rss
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