Levodopa Prescription Patterns in Patients with Advanced Parkinson’s Disease: A Japanese Database Analysis

Table 2

Characteristics of participating institutes.

Participating institutions	Facilities, n (%)	Patients, n (%)
All	318 (100)	4029 (100)
Facilities with board-certified specialists from the Japanese Society of Neurology	185 (58.2)	3529 (87.6)
Board-certified facilities from the Japanese Society of Neurology	143 (45.0)	3226 (80.1)
Educational^a	63 (19.8)	1912 (47.5)
Education associated^b	70 (22.0)	1217 (30.2)
Education related^c	10 (3.1)	97 (2.4)
Hospital size
<100 beds	3 (0.9)	4 (0.1)
100–199 beds	52 (16.4)	227 (5.6)
200–299 beds	58 (18.2)	998 (24.8)
300–399 beds	78 (24.5)	715 (17.7)
400–499 beds	63 (19.8)	707 (17.5)
≥500 beds	64 (20.1)	1378 (34.2)
Region
Hokkaido	13 (4.1)	164 (4.1)
Tohoku	27 (8.5)	214 (5.3)
Kanto	62 (19.5)	949 (23.6)
Chubu	52 (16.4)	708 (17.6)
Kinki	55 (17.3)	703 (17.4)
Shikoku	16 (5.0)	56 (1.4)
Chugoku	34 (10.7)	823 (20.4)
Kyushu and Okinawa	59 (18.6)	412 (10.2)
Hospital type
University	15 (4.7)	289 (7.2)
Municipal	79 (24.8)	751 (18.6)
Public	101 (31.8)	1433 (35.6)
Private	123 (38.7)	1556 (38.6)

^aAccreditation criteria for educational facilities were (i) ≥1 certified educator and ≥3 certified specialists including the educator are working full-time; (ii) ≥10 beds in the department of neurology or related departments or ≥100 hospitalized patients/year in the department of neurology or related departments; and (iii) training system and facilities available at location to enable curriculum-based training for neurologists. ^bAccreditation criteria for education-associated facilities were (i) ≥1 full-time certified educator; (ii) ≥10 beds in the department of neurology or related departments or ≥100 hospitalized patients/year in the department of neurology or related departments; and (iii) training system and facilities available at location to enable curriculum-based training for neurologists. ^cAccreditation criteria for education-related facilities were (i) hospital or clinic with ≥1 full-time specialist (preferably educator); (ii) cooperation with educational institutions; and (iii) training system and facilities available to enable curriculum-based training for neurologists at educational and education-associated facilities.