A Comparison of Biological Risk Factors in Two Populations: The United States and Japan

Abstract

Life expectancy is higher in Japan than in the United States. We compared the prevalence of clinically recognized risk factors in the two countries to explore the possibility that differences in these likely precursors to disease and death are linked to the paths to higher mortality for Americans. We found that American men and women have higher levels of total biological risk than the Japanese, particularly for risk factors included in the metabolic syndrome. A significant difference between the two countries is the higher prevalence of overweight among Americans. On the other hand, measured blood pressure appears more favorable among Americans. A larger proportion of Americans use prescription drugs, which results in lowered levels of measured biological risk. There are large differences in the prevalence of a number of risk factors between American and Japanese women less than age 40; this could mean that Americans develop biological risk earlier in life or that the differences are growing larger in more recent cohorts. Copyright (c) 2008 The Population Council, Inc..

Active Social Participation and Mortality Risk Among Older People in Japan

“…Researchers have long been interested in Japanese longevity, but the mechanisms of the phenomenal health of the Japanese people remain to be firmly established. While past research has tended to focus on biological and functional factors, such as biomarkers (Crimmins, Vasunilashorn, Kim, Hagedorn, & Saito, 2008), blood pressure (Davarian, Crimmins, Takahashi, & Saito, 2013), and obesity (Reynolds et al, 2008), this study brings new evidence to bear on this topic: Social factors might be just as important as individual characteristics in the production and distribution of health. Overall, in the face of the rapidly aging population, more research and policy attention should be directed toward the social and cultural circumstances in which older individuals are embedded.…”

Blood lipids, infection, and inflammatory markers in the Tsimane of Bolivia

“…Links between blood‐C levels and age, sex, and hemoglobin (Hb) levels are also investigated (Au and Schilling, 1986; Crimmins et al, 2008a, b; Inouye et al, 1999; Mjos et al, 1977; Oguntibeju, 2003; Wilson et al, 1994). Because childhood infections can stunt growth by reallocating resources for development to combat infection, we include stunted height as an indicator of past exposure to infection (Crimmins and Finch, 2006a, b; Finch, 2007; Finch and Crimmins, 2004; Godoy et al, 2009; McDade et al, 2007, 2008).…”

International Differences in the Links between Obesity and Physiological Dysregulation: The United States, England, and Taiwan

“…For each indicator we use clinical cutpoints or widely used research-based cutpoints to indicate high levels of risk which are shown in Table 1 [39, 43, 45]. …”