This study showed that use of home-visit nursing care services, will of the patients, their gender and age played an important role in the continuation of home care. It is reasonable to speculate that the use of home-visit nursing care services contributes to the safe in home care since medical providers visit more frequently and patients are closely monitored. Women were found as a
significant factor for inhibiting the continuitation of home care in this study while a previous study from Taiwan showed that being female was an important determinant of hospice home care [16]. In a meta-analysis using studies mostly from the UK, the US, Australia,and Canada, gender factor did not have significant effect in dying at home [17]. Thus, differences of culture among countries might influence the gender disparity. In Japan, elderly care has been traditionally considered as‘women’swork’[18] and national survey reported that 69.4% of caregivers were women in 2010 [19]. An explanation of the gender disparity might be that Japanese women miss the opportunity to receive medical home care in the background of traditional thinking of gender role. Surprisingly, older age was associated with longer continuation of home care. The exact reason remains unknown; however, it is probable that cancer might have been diagnosed by chance at an early stage in elderly patients who had been treated at home for other chronic diseases.