Section1-3. Survey on healthy degrees of vivid elderly persons

The formal name of the survey on vivid elderly persons was “Survey on healthy degrees of vivid elderly persons”. This was an epoch-making challenge to explore the know how of elderly health scientifically by the cooperative investigations by the Health Science Center of Kyushu University, and Kasuga city, Fukuoka prefecture. For the purpose of making the enrolled elderly persons understand the objective of this survey, the mayor of Kasuga city sent the address upon publication of the Summarized report (Reference 27) on this survey in March 1994. For your reference, this report shall be described in the following pages.
In the modern society, various senses of values established after the World War II were collapsed while no new senses of values and new principles anticipating the 21st century have been founded, indicating that we are facing a big turning point. Under these situations, our generations possess the important mission to convey the bright and hopeful local society to the future. Incidentally, the 21st century is characterized as the ultra-aged society and therefore, “To keep healthy” is one of the key words. However, it is a current situation not to achieve clear positioning of the definition of “Healthy”. It seems to me that “Healthy condition” not only means the situation without affected diseases but also implies “Vividly spend daily lives” under co-existence with diseases with positive association with the local society. It goes without saying that all of us wish to be physically healthy but we can say that “To produce vividness”, one step advanced from simple “To keep healthy” might be one of the new principles toward the 21st century.In this meaning, the Survey on healthy degrees of citizens cooperatively conducted by Kasuga city and the Health Science Center of Kyushu University made the challenge to clarify the long-lasting theme beyond the notion of “Healthy conditions” as to what is the factor to bring about “Vividness”. The report describes the survey results including “Correlation of elderly persons with teeth” which might bring the findings to the world-wide attention as well as lots of creative recommendations.We appreciate many expert doctors for their kind cooperation to preparation of this survey report, and we sincerely hope that various recommendations proposed by this report would contribute to not only planning of the measures for producing healthy conditions but also employment as the references to the relevant organizations.
As written in the forward by Mayor of Kasuga city, interesting characteristics of this survey existed in evaluating the whole health conditions of citizens including “Vividness” “Vigorousness” which cannot be assessed by digital valuables, rather than measuring health by hematological data and cardiac function data which are usually employed for conventional medical studies. From this survey, we intended to learn from vivid elderly persons how people should spend their young days including physical behaviors and life-style related customs if we wish to live in the ultra aged society in the 21st century as favorable elderly persons. The survey project team consisted of mainly the stuffs of the Health Science Center of Kyushu University and other specialists in the related fields associated with human health from other universities and other faculties of Kyushu University. They were internal physicians, psychiatric physicians, exercise physiologists, food and nutrition scientists, statisticians, nurses and I. I was responsible for investigation about teeth and oral cavity fields as a dental physician. To tell the truth, however, some difficulty awaited me before my participation in this study. It took a long time before our professor admitted my cooperation to the new project which would be controlled by other departments even though these departments belonged to the same university. Repeatedly I explained the significance of my involvement while the leader of the new project was asked to meet with our professor and finally I was permitted to join the project. Within the frame work of a university called as the ivory tower, participation in any studies against the professor’s will threatens the career ascent in the university organization or sometimes spoils the current position as a researcher. Nevertheless, I wanted to be involved in that survey because of not doing the study for the study but strong desire to work as one dental physician or a health scientist for the benefits of general publics. Accordingly, I was quite out of self protection and I had neither hesitation nor anxiety.At that occasion, I could not anticipate that subsequent progress of this survey would knock the door contributing to opening the bright future of humans. I felt as if solution of one simple question raised another question to be answered by the survey, like striking a precious vein in uncultivated areas. This is the most pleasant occasions for any scientists. Frankly speaking, I was so much excited despite of various difficulties to go forward with this study in unexcavated fields where conventional medical common sense was useless. The histories of such fundamental studies and the relevant scientific data shall be introduced in the following sections.The contents covered from the next Section to Chapter II, Section 1 are described in somewhat specialized technical modalities, which can be compared to the most grueling part of the course; however, after running this hot-corner, you will find a flat plain comprising anecdotes based on actual examples of some patients. Therefore, you are kindly recommended to work your way through this book. Sometimes people stick to a fixed idea and cling to it. Accordingly, you must get the key, called as “Science” to open the closed common senses followed by investigation of its contents even if you feel it difficult. This is the reason why technical figures and tables filled with technical terms are included in this book to maintain its scientific features although this book is not a medical thesis but a book of general interest.