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In 1950 the average life expectancy
in Japan at the time of birth
was 58.0 years for a male and
61.5 years for a female. As
of 2003, the figures had lengthened
all the way to 78.3 years for
men and 85.2 years for women.
Over that half-century the lives
of the Japanese grew considerable
longer, giving Japan the world’s
longest-lived people.
A variety of factors have combined
to produce this happy result,
including a rising standard
of living, progress in medical
technology, and improvement
in the provision of social security,
but it remains true that longer
lives also give rise to serious
social problems. In 1970 Japan
reached what the United Nations
defines as the threshold of
an aging society, in which those
aged 65 or over have a share
of 7% of the population. Just
a quarter of a century later,
in 1994, the Japanese population
reached the next level of an
aged society, in which the share
of the elderly is 14% or higher.
Advanced European countries
have made the same transition,
but they went through this process
at a much more leisurely pace,
from well over 100 years to
40 years at the fastest.
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The designers
aimed to make the centers
hospital a cheerful place,
and they paid close attention
to the circumstances of
the elderly, using a cushioning
material in the floors,
for instance, to prevent
injury from falls. |
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The graying of Japanese society
is, moreover, still in progress
and is expected to go on for
some time to come. Bolstering
medical care for the elderly
and consolidating a research
base for the diseases of old
age are, accordingly, crucial
and pressing tasks. At just
this juncture, the National
Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology
has been established. Located
in Aichi Kenko no Mori (Aichi
Health Village), an area of
Obu City where health-care facilities
are concentrated, the center
opened its doors last March.
Serving as its first president
is Shin’ichi Oshima, who
has previously been a professor
at the Nagoya University Graduate
School of Medicine and director
of the Nagoya University Hospital.
The NCGG, which is Japan’s
first and only state-managed
institution in this field, has
three parts. Its research center,
named the National Institute
for Longevity Sciences, was
already in existence, having
been established in 1995. It
has built up a track record
in both basic and applied research.
The hospital, named the National
Hospital for Geriatric Medicine,
was newly created, and it aims
to offer high-quality medical
care using the most up-to-date
techniques. Bringing these two
parts together is the third
part, the NCGG’s administrative
branch. There are, moreover,
a number of related facilities
nearby backing up the center’s
efforts to make this a community
where the elderly can lead healthy
and cheerful lives. Prominent
among them are Aiko Home Obu-en,
a home for elderly people requiring
special care, Luminus Obu, a
geriatric health services facility,
the Obu Center for Dementia
Care Research and Training,
and Aichi Kenko Plaza, a comprehensive
health facility run by the prefecture.
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Toshiki Ota, director of
the National Hospital for
Geriatrics Medicine. He
stresses the importance
of not just using the latest
medical technologies but
also engaging in conversation
with patients and staff
members. |
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Toshiki Ota, director of the
National Hospital for Geriatric
Medicine, comments, “Medical
care for the aged has conventionally
been understood to be just an
extension of general medicine
for youths and adults, but actually
it should be seen as a field
unto itself.”
Consider, for instance, pneumonia,
a rather common malady. In the
case of old people, different
methods need to be used both
to prevent its occurrence and
to treat it. Collecting basic
data on such differences was
not, as a general rule, easy
to accomplish in the past. One
of the center’s missions
is, accordingly, to assemble
data that can throw light on
the diseases of old age. Since
geriatrics will become an increasingly
important medical field in the
years to come, this data is
expected to be extremely valuable.
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A brain section
as portrayed by the PET
scanner. This instrument
is particularly useful in
diagnosing and investigating
old-age dementia. |
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Needless to say, innumerable
benefits can be anticipated
from the close liaison taking
place between the NCGG’s
hospital and research institute.
Some of the hospital’s
doctors are also participating
in joint research projects,
and they are in a position to
input information from clinical
practice directly into laboratory
research, as well as to take
back and apply the fruits of
the research. Numerous benefits
will also be realized from the
assembly of a talented staff
with access to cutting-edge
medical equipment. One R&D
project is attempting to produce
an oral vaccine for Alzheimer’s
disease. While the research
is still at the stage of animal
testing, it has drawn favorable
comments from around the world
for the safety and effectiveness
of the vaccine. Since this could
be a breakthrough product, the
researchers are approaching
their work with noteworthy intensity.
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Takeshi Tabira, director
of the National Institute
for Longevity Sciences |
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Takeshi Tabira, director of
the National Institute for Longevity
Sciences, remarks, “The
nature of the dementia associated
with Alzheimer’s is so
tangled that among researchers
it’s developed a reputation
even more unfavorable than cancer.
The day of revolutionary treatment
methods may not be that far
off, however, even in the case
of knotty diseases like this
one.”
At the same time as the Japanese
population ages, families are
having fewer and fewer children.
As a result, the share of persons
aged 65 and over in the population
is still swiftly growing, and
it is projected to reach 19.6%
in 2005 and 27.4% in 2025. At
that point Japan will have an
elderly society the likes of
which have never been seen before
anywhere in the world. With
this situation in the offing,
the hospital’s Director
Ota offered the following comment
on the role the NCGG needs to
play:
“Japan today is in the
vanguard of geriatrics. In view
of this, the advanced medical
technologies, the know-how,
and the research results our
center comes up with will need
to be made widely available
to communities everywhere in
Japan. Meanwhile, other Asian
countries are also moving rapidly
down the road towards old-aged
societies, and they are not
that far behind our country.
Our center is thus in a position
to give valuable assistance
to their medical professionals
as well.”
(Takashi Sasaki;
photos by Tadashi Aizawa)
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