Malleability of Human Aging<BR> <I>The Curious Case of Old-Age Mortality in Japan</I>

Abstract

Steady growth in human life expectancy has been a key feature of the last century, with projected further increases likely to have enormous impacts on societies worldwide. Despite the significance of these changes, our understanding of the factors shaping this trend is incomplete. During most of the historical increase, by far, the major influence was progressive decline in early and midlife death rates because of the reduction in premature deaths, caused chiefly by infection. Recent decades have seen the emergence of a new driver of increasing longevity-declining mortality among those who are old already, pointing to greater malleability in human aging than had been foreseen. There is still debate, however, as to how much of this decrease in old age mortality is caused by a better early-life environment and how much is caused by improved conditions in late life. A unique resource exists in the case of Japan, where material circumstances for the general population were consistently adverse through the early decades of the 20th century but improved rapidly after 1950. Here, we compare the Japanese birth cohorts of 1900, 1910, and 1920 expectation that preventive measures in later life can deliver great benefit, while not contradicting the importance of life course approaches, to improving health and well-being.

Sex-Based Differences in the Determinants of Old Age Life Expectancy: The Influence of Perimenopause

“…Adult SEP, moreover, significantly affects mortality rates independent of early life SEP. These findings have proven robust across multiple populations, including Sweden, England and Wales, and Japan (Ben-Shlomo and Smith 1991; Rosvall et al 2006; Engelaer et al 2013). …”