| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
INAFUKU Tetsuya University of the Ryukyus Hospital, Assistant, 医学部附属病院, 助手 (20213126)
AKISAKA Masafumi UNIVERSITY OF RYUKYUS Faculty of Medicine, Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (60231817)
NOZAKI Hiroyuki UNIVERSITY OF RYUKYUS Faculty of Medicine, Assistant Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (40130083)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The life expectancy of the Japanese is estimated to he longest in the world. In the present time, active longevity, instead of frail long life, is expected in Japan. In this study, the elderly people in an isolated island of Okinawa were sociologically arid medically evaluated whether their living is active or not.
The number of over 65-year-old people in the island was seven hundred-eighteen according to the national census in 1975. Among them, one hundred-seven elderly people turned out to be living in the same island in 1995 when twenty years had passed since 1975. Other persons had passed away or moved out from the island during the twenty years. Ninety -eight elderly people among them were evaluated whether they were active or not on the basis of several criteria for clarifying their activities of daily living (ADL).
Among ninety-eight elderly people, twenty-nine people in hospitals were judged to be disable in bed. Eventually, activities of daily living were analyzed on sixty-nine
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elderly people (21 men and 48 women, average age : 92 years) in their own homes according to the criteria prepared by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Sixty-. elderly people were classified in rank j or A, active longevity, in the criteria. Namely, 67% of ninety-eight elderly people were active.
Among the active sixty-six elderly people forty-nine people (14 men and 35 women, average age : 92 years) were medically examined in their own homes. They were free of severe disorders, however, 47% of the elderly were found to have cardiovascular abnormalities such as mild hypertension, arrythmia, edema or heart murmur by physical examination. Medical management against the above-mentioned abnormalities appears to be helpful for preventing not only another severer disease but also disability. A merely small number of the elderly people showed abnormalities in the examination of peripheral blood cell, blood chemistry and immunoglobulin.
In conclusion, approximately 70% of the elderly people living in their own homes were active in the daily living and they were free of severe disorders. Less
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