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Physical, sensory, and cognitive functioning among centenarians: a comparison between the Tokyo and Georgia centenarian studies

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare centenarians in the United States and Japan on sensory, cognitive, and physical functioning and to evaluate a model that tests the interrelationship between physical function, cognition, and sensory impairment in these two unique samples of the oldest old.

Methods

The sample of U. S. centenarians included 245 centenarians, the sample of Japanese centenarians included 304 centenarians. Sensory impairment was assessed by general assessments of vision and hearing, and physical function was assessed with six physical activities of daily living (i.e., eating, grooming, dressing, transporting, bathing, and walking).

Results

The results suggest that centenarians from the Georgia study showed higher levels of functioning in all domains when compared to the Tokyo sample. A structural equation model yielded stronger associations between cognitive and sensory function with physical function for the Tokyo sample.

Conclusions

Functional differences may be due, in part, to different care patterns for the oldest old in the United States when compared to Japan.

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Acknowledgements

The Georgia Centenarian Study (Leonard W. Poon, PI) was funded by 1P01AG17553 from the National Institute on Aging, a collaboration among The University of Georgia, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, Boston University, University of Kentucky, Emory University, Duke University, Wayne State University, Iowa State University, Temple University, and University of Michigan. Additional authors include S. M. Jazwinski, R. C. Green, M. MacDonald, M. Gearing, W. R. Markesbery (deceased), J. L. Woodard, M. (A) Johnson, J. S. Tenover, I. C. Siegler, W. L. Rodgers, D. (B) Hausman, (C) Rott, A. Davey, and J. Arnold. Authors acknowledge the valuable recruitment and data acquisition effort from M. Burgess, K. Grier, E. Jackson, E. McCarthy, K. Shaw, L. Strong, and S. Reynolds, data acquisition team manager; S. Anderson, E. Cassidy, M. Janke, and J. Savla, data management; M. Poon for project fiscal management. The first author also acknowledges the support by the Fulbright Commission for his work on this project. The Tokyo Centenarian Study was supported in part by a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare for the Scientific Research Project on Longevity, a grant for studying the multidisciplinary approach to centenarians and its international comparison (Principal Investigator, Nobuyoshi Hirose); a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (No. 15730346); and aid for research from the Keio Health Consulting Center. Both studies have been approved by their respective Institutional Review Boards.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University, 1096 LeBaron Hall, Ames, IA, 50011, USA

    Peter Martin

  2. Clinical Thanatology and Geriatric Behavioral Science, Osaka University, 1-2 Yamadaoka Suite, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yasuyuki Gondo

  3. School of Medicine, Keio University, 2 Chome-15-45 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8345, Japan

    Yasumichi Arai & Nobuyoshi Hirose

  4. Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Human Care Research Team, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

    Yoshiko Ishioka

  5. Wayne State University, 5057 Woodward Ave., 7th Floor, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA

    John L. Woodard

  6. College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Health Sciences Campus, Rhodes Hall - 105 Spear Road, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Leonard W. Poon

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  1. Peter Martin
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Correspondence to Peter Martin.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Martin, P., Gondo, Y., Arai, Y. et al. Physical, sensory, and cognitive functioning among centenarians: a comparison between the Tokyo and Georgia centenarian studies. Qual Life Res 27, 3037–3046 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1943-z

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