Growth of psychiatric beds in Japan

Japan has experienced a dramatic increase in psychiatric beds from a level of 32.4 per 100,000population in 1953 to 254.1 in 1977. The number of inpatients has always paralleled this increase as the bed occupancy rate has remained above 100% during these years. The age specific resident patient rates of psychiatric patients were initially higher for the younger age groups but have gradually shifted to the middle age groups. Geriatric psychiatric patients over 65 years of age have had low rates and constitute only about 8.5% of the total at present. The increase in psychiatric beds has resulted in large part from the establishment of private hospitals each having about 200 beds. While the number of personnel per bed in psychiatric hospitals has slightly increased, the basic composition has remained the same for 20 years. The proportion of medical care cost devoted to psychiatric care has been estimated to have grown from 5.8% of the total in 1963 to 7.2% in 1976. However, the burden of inpatient psychiatric care has been obscured by the general increase in medical care costs. A futher increase in psychiatric beds would become necessary if the psychiatric sector is to play a major role in geriatric care.