Cohort profile: A super-elderly population-based cohort in Japan (the Sukagawa Study)
Toru Naganuma, Sei Takahashi, Taro Takeshima, Noriaki Kurita, Kenji Omae, Takashi Yoshioka, Tsuyoshi Ohnishi, Fumihito Ito, Shingo Fukuma, Sugihiro Hamaguchi, Shunichi Fukuhara, the Sukagawa Study Group, Takeshi Hasegawa, Nobuyuki Yajima, Kakuya Niihata, Hidekazu Iida, Susumu Kobayashi, S. Sasaki, Hiroki Nishiwaki, Ryoji Tominaga
Abstract
2] Japan, particularly in the provinces, has become a 'super-aged' society as based on the World Health Organization's criterion of more than 21% of the population being aged 65 years. Therefore, both elderly individuals and the communities supporting them are beginning to grapple with various problems that need immediate attention, such as frailty and cognitive impairment, because of their negative impact on quality of life (QOL) and increased medical and long-term care costs.