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KUAKINI MEDICAL CENTER AWARDED $1.5 MILLION TO STUDY HEALTHY AGING AMONG JAPANESE AMERICANS
Kuakini Medical Center and Pacific Health Research Institute to Conduct Largest Study of its Kind in the U.S.
Honolulu, Hawaii (Nov. 19, 2005) -- Why are so many Japanese men in Hawaii living much longer than the national average, and in such a good state of health? This is the question being asked of Dr. Bradley J. Willcox, author of the famous “Okinawa Program,” and a principal investigator of geriatrics research at Pacific Health Research Institute (PHRI), Honolulu. The National Institute on Aging (NIA) believes the question has broad applications for better health and has awarded Kuakini Medical Center (KMC) $1.5 million to work in collaboration with the PHRI to find the answers.
Dr. Willcox will lead a team of researchers to determine what factors have contributed to a healthy old age among so many of the 8,006 Japanese American men in Hawaii that have been tracked for some 40 years as part of the KMC’s Honolulu Heart Program (HHP). The HHP is a long-term study of risk factors for heart disease and stroke that has accumulated data from this cohort since the study began.
The “Hawaii Lifespan Study” will look at how healthy aging is manifested over the lifespan of the men in this cohort—with a focus on identifying genetic variants that have an effect on aging itself. The results may point to solutions to help prevent a wide variety of diseases such as coronary heart disease, cancer, dementia, and more.
“The health of individuals at advanced ages, and their ability to function is—at least in part—a result of genetics as well as behavioral, social, and environmental influences occurring across the life span, possibly starting as early as fetal development,” says Dr. Willcox. “The goal of this study is to find out what these people have in common that has enabled them to survive to exceptional ages in such good health,” he explains.
More than 400 of the group survived over the age of 95. The youngest is 85 and the oldest is 105. Researchers define good health in old age as absence of chronic illness, high physical and cognitive function and an active engagement with life.
“We know that many people age with minimal chronic disease, but we don’t know why,” says Dr. Willcox. “It is anticipated that lessons learned from this study could be adapted to the larger population as a means to enable more people attain good health in old age.
“We will be collecting and analyzing data on one of the longest lived, healthiest, groups of people in the world,” adds Dr. Willcox. “This is the first study in the nation to have enough elderly people—who have been tracked over most of their adult lifespan—to produce a significant data base for the study of healthy aging.”
According to Dr. Willcox, no other study has tracked a group of people this large, for this long in such detail. He explains it virtually eliminates some of the bias typically found in retrospective studies that look back in time and rely on participants’ ability to recall details.
This group of 8,006 men has been tracked for over 3,000 variables that affect health. Fifteen of them so far predict the ability to live to age 95 years and include factors such as eating a Japanese diet, drinking green tea, exercise, body weight, body mass index (a measure of body fat), blood cholesterol levels, social support, and particularly levels of blood sugar and insulin.
The researchers are most interested in identifying factors that affect blood sugar and insulin levels because animal studies suggest that high blood insulin levels accelerate aging. This is evident in diabetics who suffer from a type of premature aging syndrome, where there is an acceleration of problems with heart disease, stroke, gangrene, blindness and kidney failure.
The HHP is a Kuakini Medical Center project in which PHRI is a major collaborator. Results of the HHP have played a part in the U.S. government's recommended dietary guidelines, in the development of "smoke-free" programs for primary and secondary schools, and in the development of rehabilitation programs for heart attack victims. The research findings, such as the existence of "good" cholesterol, have guided physicians worldwide in treating patients with
heart disease. HHP researchers have published over 300 scientific papers on the study of heart disease, and it is the only long-term study of Japanese American men that has included epidemiological and clinical data of cohorts for over 37 years.
Located in Honolulu, PHRI is the largest independent life sciences research institute in Hawaii. Research includes genetics and epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and health services research, with a focus on cancer, diabetes, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, neurodegenerative disorders, longevity, hypertension, and heart disease, among others. PHRI was founded in 1960 and has an annual operating budget of about $11 million. Its funding comes mainly from the Federal government, with additional support from foundations and private industry. Most of PHRI’s research is conducted through collaborations with research centers through Hawaii, the Pacific, Asia and the mainland U.S.