Japan Society for the Promotion of Science:Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
Date (from‐to) : 2018/10 -2020/03
Author : SAITO Masashige
Social isolation is one of social determinants of health. We compared following points in Japan and England: 1) characteristics of social isolation among older adults, 2) association between social isolation and health behavior or mortality, and 3) population attributable fraction of social isolation. We used two large scale epidemiological ageing cohort data: Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) in Japan and English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) in England. We confirmed that social isolation among older adults was significantly associated with depressive symptoms, smoking, oral health, and mortality in both countries. Since proportion of social isolation was remarkably higher in Japan, the severe social isolation among older adults was attributed to around 18,000 premature deaths annually in Japan, in contrast with around 1,800 in England. Nationwide promotion of social participation and relationships is necessary in Japan to combat social isolation among older adults.