A descriptive study of solitary death in Yokohama City

Kakiuchi, Yasuhiro; Nagao, Ryoko; Ochiai, Eriko; Kakimoto, Yu; Osawa, Motoki

doi:10.1186/s12199-019-0766-z

Cited by 11 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(14 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This discrepancy depends on regional differences. In contrast, in line with our observations, PMI of solitary death cases tended to be longer in men than in women 6, 13,15,22,23,29,30 . It is important that social exclusion is closely related to solitary and isolated deaths.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A retrospective study on solitary deaths (kodoku-shi) from the aspects of forensic and social medine

Hashizume

Ishigami

Ishida

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This retrospective study evaluated 637 forensic autopsy cases of solitary death (kodoku-shi in Japanese) and clarified the present situation of solitary death from the viewpoints of forensic medicine. Of 637 cases who had solitary death, 471 were male and 166 were female, indicating that solitary death predominantly occurred in men. This tendency increased from the age of 40 years in men and 60 years in women. Among the cases, 349 and 199 were natural death and external death, respectively. Ischemic heart disease- and fire-related fatalities were most common in natural death and external death cases, respectively. Suicidal death was more frequent in women than in men. We found two peaks of postmortem interval until finding (PMI-f): < 1 d (182 cases, 28.6%) and 7 days to < 1 month (164 cases, 25.7%). The PMI-f in female cases was significantly shorter than that in male cases. The PMI-f of external death cases was significantly shorter than that of natural death cases. Kushimoto and Shingu, located in the southern part (Kinan region), had a high solitary death rate in forensic autopsy cases because of their small population and high aging rate. Few cases were welfare recipients in solitary death cases in Kinan region (non-urban area), and 23 of 36 welfare recipients lived in Wakayama City, indicating that the economic state would contribute more to the occurrence of solitary death in Wakayama City (urban area). We identified several risk factors and regional characteristics for solitary death cases, and our observations could contribute to administrative welfare measures for the prevention of solitary deaths.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Alcoholic liver disease, alcoholism, and schizophrenia were more frequent in men than in women. In line with this, previous studies have reported a higher prevalence of hypertension and alcoholrelated disease in solitary death cases 9,12,23,26,30 . Our results are consistent with this nding.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

A retrospective study on solitary deaths (kodoku-shi) from the aspects of forensic and social medine

Hashizume

Ishigami

Ishida

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Indeed, cardiovascular or alcohol-related issues are emerging as key predictors of kodokushi in conjunction with being male, in the 60-79-year-old age group, are in the lower-income bracket, and living alone. A vast majority of attended death at home is attributed to malignant neoplasm in urban Japan, while a majority of examined deaths, where the cause of death is not immediately obvious and the medical examiners prepared death certificates, are attributed to cardiovascular diseases (Kakiuchi et al 2019b;Osone 2016;Tomoyuki 2009) and diseases associated with alcoholism such as hepatic cirrhosis (Kakiuchi et al 2019a;Kanawaku 2018;Morita et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the average PMI was the longest in the 50-59 (8.74 days) and 60-69 (7.87 days) age groups (Morita et al 2015). Similarly, a study from Yokohama, which defined solitary death as PMI-f ≥ 3 days, suggests that males and unmarried individuals were at greater risk of solitary death, whereas being ≥ 65 years of age or senility were not predictive factors (Kakiuchi et al 2019a). These studies also suggest that those with an underlying alcohol-related (Morita et al 2015) or hepatic disease (Kakiuchi et al 2019a) are at greater risk of solitary death.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of kodokushi (solitary deaths) in the Tokyo metropolitan area

Toyama

Poudyal

2021

SN Soc Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Kodokushi or solitary deaths is one of the most important socio-medico problems in Japan that has emerged because of a super-aging society. In this paper, we provide the long-term trends and associated social risk factors of kodokushi in Tokyo, the only city that publishes detailed records of kodokushi in Japan. Overall, our results show that the age-adjusted mortality rate of kodokushi in the Tokyo Metropolitan area has consistently increased from 2003 to 2010, but since then has remained mostly unchanged in both genders. By age group, the age-adjusted mortality rate of kodokushi has increased throughout the study period of 2003-2016 in those aged ≥ 60. Males and those aged 60-69 and 70-79 years have notably higher odds of kodokushi. Since a quarter of all kodokushi cases in Tokyo were under the age of 60 in 2016, the issue may gain population-wide relevance in the future. More studies in this line are required for targeted public health policy to prevent kodokushi.

show abstract

“…The social isolation of older people is an important public health issue [ 10 , 11 ]. Addressing it requires the implementation of measures to incorporate solitary older people into the local community.…”

Section: Solitary Death and Public Health Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Solitary death and new lifestyles during and after COVID-19: wearable devices and public health ethics

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Solitary death (kodokushi) has recently become recognized as a social issue in Japan. The social isolation of older people leads to death without dignity. With the outbreak of COVID-19, efforts to eliminate solitary death need to be adjusted in line with changes in lifestyle and accompanying changes in social structure. Health monitoring services that utilize wearable devices may contribute to this end. Our goals are to outline how wearable devices might be used to (1) detect emergency situations involving solitary older people and swiftly connect them with medical treatment, to (2) reduce the frequency of deaths that remain undiscovered and (3) to reduce social isolation by promoting social interaction. Methods Theoretical and philosophical approaches were adopted to examine ethical issues surrounding the application of wearable devices and cloud-based information processing systems to prevent solitary death in the world with/after COVID-19. Main body (1) Technology cannot replace social connections; without social support necessary to foster understanding of the benefits of health management through wearable devices among older adults, such devices may remain unused, or not used properly. (2) Maturity of the technology; systems face the difficult task of detecting and responding to a wide range of health conditions and life-threatening events in time to avert avoidable morbidity and mortality. (3) Autonomy and personhood; promoting the voluntary use of wearable devices that are a part of larger efforts to connect isolated individuals to a community or social services might be effective. Legal force should be avoided if possible. There is some concern that landlords may require an older person to sign a contract agreeing to wear a device. The autonomy of solitary older people should be respected. (4) Governance: policies must be developed to limit access to data from wearables and the purposes for which data can be used. Conclusion If thoughtfully deployed under proper policy constraints, wearable devices offer a way to connect solitary older people to health services and could reduce cases of solitary death while respecting the personhood of the user.

show abstract

A descriptive study of solitary death in Yokohama City

Cited by 11 publications

References 19 publications

A retrospective study on solitary deaths (kodoku-shi) from the aspects of forensic and social medine

A retrospective study on solitary deaths (kodoku-shi) from the aspects of forensic and social medine

Prevalence of kodokushi (solitary deaths) in the Tokyo metropolitan area

Solitary death and new lifestyles during and after COVID-19: wearable devices and public health ethics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About