Prevalence of Noncommunicable Diseases in Japan Using a Newly Developed Administrative Claims Database Covering Young, Middle-aged, and Elderly People

INTRODUCTION: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are an ongoing public health problem globally. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of NCDs in Japan using a newly developed, commercially available administrative claims database covering young, middle-aged, and elderly people. METHODS: We compared the age-stratified population distribution between the DeSC administrative claims database and the population estimates. We calculated the 1 year prevalence of several NCDs using the DeSC database and compared the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension between the DeSC database and the Japan National Health and Nutrition Survey. RESULTS: The age distribution of the population included in the DeSC database was similar to that of the population estimates. The estimated prevalence rates were as follows: diabetes mellitus (12.2%), hypertension (20.9%), ischemic heart disease (5.6%), heart failure (5.3%), cerebral infarction (3.4%), stroke (3.7%), gastric cancer (0.6%), colorectal cancer (0.8%), breast cancer (1.5%), prostate cancer (0.6%), cataract (7.1%), depression (3.5%), and osteoporosis (6.3%). The estimated prevalence of diabetes and hypertension was comparable with that of the National Health and Nutrition Survey. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of age and sex in the database was comparable with that of the population estimates. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension was comparable with that in a previously reported national survey. Our data can be utilized as basic information for policymaking in clinical medicine and public health in Japan.