Department of Social Epidemiology
Graduate School of Medicine and School of Public Health, Kyoto University
The Global Expert Meeting of the Obesity Control Promotion Project of the Japan Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI), drawing upon insights from the event titled “The Next Steps for Engaging and Cooperating with Patients, Citizens, and Communities for Obesity Control,” held in Mach 2023. This month, the meeting has shared its Policy Recommendations outlined in the document titled “The 6 Steps for Engaging and Cooperating with Patients, Citizens, and Communities for Obesity Control.”
Professor Kondo contributed to the meeting as a panelist.
For a detailed overview, please refer to the information available by clicking here. * In English
Professor Kondo had a presentation at the 3rd MEV-MEJ Forum on Sharing Experiences in Adaptation to Ageing and Care for Elderly between Japan and Vietnam on August 29, 2023. He participated as a symposium presenter and discussed how to promote equitable aging society measures.
Title: “Achieving Health Equity by Data-Driven Community-Based Integrated Care System: Lessons from Japan”
On May 31, the Act on Promotion of Policy for Loneliness and Isolation passed at the plenary session of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. [Please click here to view the video recording of this session (in Japanese). Voting begins at approximately 11:50 minutes.]
Also, on May 30, the Committee on Cabinet of the House of Councillors held the debate on this bill. [Please click here to see this debate (in Japanese). There was a Q&A session, a debate in opposition, a vote, and a supplementary resolution.]
Professor Kondo has been a member of the Cabinet Office’s “Expert Committee on the Priority Plan for Loneliness and Isolation” since FY2021 and has been involved in the formulation of the plan on which this bill is based.
*Cabinet Secretariat (Act on Promotion of Policy for Loneliness and Isolation) outline.pdf (cas.go.jp) law.pdf (cas.go.jp)
“Social isolation is an important Social Determinant of Health, and countermeasures are essential to make a society with fewer health disparities. The joint efforts that are based on a legal basis will be promoted, including cross-ministry initiatives across the country and collaborations with industry-academia-government and other diverse players. ” (Professor Naoki Kondo)
On May 31, 2023, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced the basic policy of the third term of the “National Health Promotion Campaign in the 21st Century (Healthy Japan 21),” in which Professor Naoki Kondo has been involved as a national council member.
It emphasizes the importance of “social environment improvement (or tackling social determinants of health)” and “creating an environment where people can be healthy naturally (that is, without strong individual health awareness and efforts to continue a healthy lifestyle)” which we have been advocating through empirical research with many of our colleagues.
For example, on page 4: “Efforts will be made to implement initiatives aimed at creating an environment that fosters natural well-being, including promoting a healthy eating environment and encouraging physical activity and exercise, among a wide range of individuals, including those with less health consciousness.”
The explicitly stated “Life-course approach” is another feature that has never been seen in Japan’s health promotion plans so far, on page 5: “We will actively promote the life–course approach, which considers a person’s health throughout their entire lifespan, starting from the fetal period to old age. This approach will be implemented in coordination with other health promotion initiatives and plans.”
Professor Amparo Oliver and Professor Jose M. Tomas, both from the University of Valencia have joined the Kondo Lab as visiting scholars.
Professor Amparo Oliver focuses on “the relationships between comprehensive characteristics and the well-being of older adults based on biological, psychological, and social aspects”.
Professor Jose M. Tomas is researching “statistical models to predict healthy aging”.
They plan to stay in Japan for about a month to conduct their research and then hand over the joint research to a Ph.D. student from their university who will visit Japan soon.
This is an excellent opportunity for collaboration and knowledge-sharing between us.
WELCOME!
Assistant Professor Keiko Ueno’s oral presentation was awarded EMS (Emergency Medical System) RESEARCH PAPER 1st RUNNER-UP at the 12th Asian Conference on Emergency Medicine held in the Philippines from April 28 to April 30, 2023.
Title: Identifying the features of subgroups in adult ambulance users with non-urgent medical conditions in Japan: A segmentation approach
Paper Category: Analytical Study
Title: Identifying the features of subgroups in adult ambulance users with non-urgent medical conditions in Japan: A segmentation approach
Background: In Japan, approximately 60% of adult ambulance users are assessed as having a minor injury or disease by a physician at the emergency department (ED) and, thus, not requiring hospitalization. They are a diverse group that utilizes a large proportion of emergency care resources. Segmentation, which divides a population into subgroups (segments) with similar characteristics, is a useful approach for identifying and providing intervention strategies tailored to the needs of each segment.
Objectives: Our study aimed to define the features of different subgroups of adult ambulance users with non-urgent medical conditions through the interpretation of quantitatively derived segments.
Methods: The study was a population-based observational study using the ambulance transportation records database and ambulance request call records database from Higashihiroshima City, Japan, between January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2020. The participants were ambulance users, aged 18 to 64 years, who were assessed as having a minor injury or disease by a physician at the ED during the study period. A soft clustering method was performed to segment the participants based on 13 variables including their characteristics (age and sex), diagnosis at the ED, the location of the ambulance call, date and time of the ambulance call, emergency status as judged by EMS (Emergency Medical Service), and the accident category. Ethical approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the Graduate School and Faculty of Medicine of Kyoto University (Approval No: R3745).
Results and Discussion: This analysis included 5,982 adult ambulance users (mean age = 39.3 years, standard deviation [SD] = 14.5, 44.2% women). Six segments were obtained: (1) “Users with neurological diseases or other injuries late at night on weekdays;” (2) “Users injured or involved in fire accidents, with increased on-scene time and multiple hospital inquiry;” (3) “Users transferred between hospitals;” (4) “Users with acute illnesses and transported from home;” (5) “Users involved in motor vehicle accidents”, and (6) “Users transferred to a hospital outside of the area during day time on weekdays.”
Conclusion and Recommendations: The findings suggest that adult ambulance users with non-urgent medical conditions can be categorized into distinct segments using data from population-based ambulance records. Further research is needed to address the user needs of each segment and provide tailored interventions to meet these needs.
A paper published last year in Epidemiology by Associate Professor Inoue was selected as the Runner-up of the Rothman Epidemiology Prize (four papers in total) as an epidemiology paper that had an important impact among the papers published by Epidemiology in the same year.
It was recognized because it generalized the front-door formula, which had never been applied to epidemiological studies since it was proposed by Judea Pearl in 1993, into an application form and presented the first example of such an application in the world.
Kyoto University School of Public Health
社会疫学分野 井上浩輔特定准教授のFDF論文がEpidemiology誌におけるRothman Epidemiology Paper Prize 2023のRunner-upとして選出されました。
Inoue, Kosuke, Ritz Beate, Arah Onyebuchi.Causal Effect of Chronic Pain on Mortality Through Opioid Prescriptions: Application of the Front-Door Formula.Epidemiology 33(4):p 572-580, July 2022.
DOI: 10.1097/EDE.0000000000001490
https://journals.lww.com/epidem/Fulltext/2022/07000/Causal_Effect_of_Chronic_Pain_on_Mortality_Through.17.aspx
Kara E. Rudolph, Winner of the 2023
https://journals.lww.com/epidem/Citation/9900/Kara_E__Rudolph,_Winner_of_the_2023.136.as
On March 27, International Lectures ” Future Healthy Aging Communities” and “Career Path in International Organizations” were held at Kyoto University School of Public Health(SPH) with WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO/WPRO) officers and researchers from Brunei and Cambodia as invited lecturers.
“Future of Healthy Aging Communities” introduced the Healthy Aging policies developed by WHO/WPRO and case studies of activities in their countries. And “Career Path in International Organizations” introduced the experiences of working in international organizations to SPH students and staff. In each session, discussion with Professor Kondo was also held, which was a valuable learning opportunity.
Kyoto University School of Public Health Website
Lecture on ” Future Healthy Aging Communities”
Lecture on “Career Path in International Organizations”
We visited Nabari City, Mie Prefecture, a leading city in efforts to achieve “Healthy Aging” and “Social Prescribing” in Asia and the Western Pacific region, where the population is rapidly aging. Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Regional Office and researchers from Cambodia and Brunei participated in the tour. Faculty and students from the Kyoto University School of Public Health(SPH) also participated. The tour was an enjoyable and great learning experience.
Kyoto University School of Public Health Website
Field Visit to Nabari City, Mie Prefecture for Exemplary Activities of Healthy Aging
Report: Field Visit to Nabari City, Mie Prefecture for Exemplary Activities of Healthy Aging
![News: Professor Kondo contributes to the [Relay-essay] titled “I tried a ‘life meeting’ on New Year’s Day, and even an elementary school student enjoyed it” on the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine website (Professor Kondo)](https://socepi.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/e-catch-E.png)