A Tale of Two Countries—the United States and Japan: Are Differences in Health Due to Differences in Overweight?
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND Despite similar standards of living and health care systems for older persons, there are marked differences in the relative health of the elderly populations in the United States (US) and Japan. We explore the association of overweight and obesity with these health disparities. METHODS Data on older adults from the US National Health Interview Survey (1994) and the Longitudinal Study of Aging II (1994) were compared to similar data from the 1999-2001 Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging. Regression analyses for the 2 countries were conducted to examine the correlates of being overweight and obese, and the relationships of overweight and obesity with activities of daily living functioning, heart disease, arthritis, and diabetes. RESULTS The prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher in the US than in Japan, as is the prevalence of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and functioning problems. Education level and marital status are predictors of overweight for older Americans but not for older Japanese people. Health behaviors affect weight in all groups. The prevalence of functioning problems and disease are more likely to be associated with being overweight in US men and women than in Japanese women, and are not associated with being overweight in Japanese men. CONCLUSION Despite similar standards of living and health care systems for older persons, the conditions associated with poor health differ in the US and Japan. Being overweight or obese appears to be related to more functioning problems and arthritis in the US than in Japan.
منابع مشابه
Ethical Agreement and Disagreement about Obesity Prevention Policy in the United States
An active area of public health policy in the United States is policy meant to promote healthy eating, reduce overconsumption of food, and prevent overweight/obesity. Public discussion of such obesity prevention policies includes intense ethical disagreement. We suggest that some ethical disagreements about obesity prevention policies can be seen as rooted in a common concern with equality or w...
متن کاملContextualizing Obesity and Diabetes Policy: Exploring a Nested Statistical and Constructivist Approach at the Cross-National and Subnational Government Level in the United States and Brazil
Background This article conducts a comparative national and subnational government analysis of the political, economic, and ideational constructivist contextual factors facilitating the adoption of obesity and diabetes policy. Methods We adopt a nested analytical approach to policy analysis, which combines cross-national statistical analysis with subnational case study comparisons to examine...
متن کاملMaking Research Matter; Comment on “Public Spending on Health Service and Policy Research in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Modest Proposal”
We offer a UK-based commentary on the recent “Perspective” published in IJHPM by Thakkar and Sullivan. We are sympathetic to the authors’ call for increased funding for health service and policy research (HSPR). However, we point out that increasing that investment – in any of the three countries they compare: Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom– will ipso facto not necessarily lea...
متن کاملMeasuring the Benefits of Healthcare: DALYs and QALYs – Does the Choice of Measure Matter? A Case Study of Two Preventive Interventions
Background The measurement of health benefits is a key issue in health economic evaluations. There is very scarce empirical literature exploring the differences of using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) as benefit metrics and their potential impact in decision-making. Methods Two previously published models delivering outputs in QALYs, were adapted...
متن کاملدولت ملتسازی در جهان اسلام و سیاست جهانی آمریکا در دوران معاصر
After World War II, United States became a global superpower in the world. Although with having little experience in the war with other countries and the emergence of new states in these countries, the US entered the realm of nation-building with the change of government in Germany and Japan. The establishment of the United Nations at this time did not contribute much to the issue of nation-sta...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره 18 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2008