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Social Determinants of Health in Non-Communicable Diseases Case Studies from Japan Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health Katsunori Kondo Editor Social Determinants of Health in Non-communicable Diseases Case Studies from Japan Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health Series Editors Wolfgang Ahrens, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology—BIPS, Bremen, Germany Iris Pigeot, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology—BIPS, Bremen, Germany The series has two main aims. First, it publishes textbooks and monographs addressing recent advances in specific research areas. Second, it provides comprehensive overviews of the methods and results of key epidemiological studies marking cornerstones of epidemiological practice, which are otherwise scattered across numerous narrow-focused publications. Thus the series offers in-depth knowledge on a variety of topics, in particular, on epidemiological concepts and methods, statistical tools, applications, epidemiological practice and public health. It also covers innovative areas such as molecular and genetic epidemiology, statistical principles in epidemiology, modern study designs, data management, quality assurance and other recent methodological developments. Written by the key experts and leaders in corresponding fields, the books in the series offer both broad overviews and insights into specific areas and topics. The series serves as an in-depth reference source that can be used complementarily to the “The Handbook of Epidemiology,” which provides a starting point of orientation for interested readers (2nd edition published in 2014 http://www.springer.com/public+health/ book/978-0-387-09835-7). The series is intended for researchers and professionals involved in health research, health reporting, health promotion, health system administration and related aspects. It is also of interest for public health specialists and researchers, epidemiologists, physicians, biostatisticians, health educators, and students worldwide. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7251 Katsunori Kondo Editor Social Determinants of Health in Non-communicable Diseases Case Studies from Japan Editor Katsunori Kondo M. D., Ph. D. Professor of Social Epidemiology and Health Policy, Department of Social Preventive Medical Sciences, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan Head of Department of Gerontological Evaluation, Center for Gerontology and Social Science, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu City, Aichi, Japan ISSN 1869-7933 ISSN 1869-7941 (electronic) Springer Series on Epidemiology and Public Health ISBN 978-981-15-1830-0 ISBN 978-981-15-1831-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1831-7 This book is an open access publication. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This book is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this book or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this book are included in the book’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the book’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. This work is subject to copyright. All commercial rights are reserved by the author(s), whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Regarding these commercial rights a non-exclusive license has been granted to the publisher. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore Preface The health of a population is determined not only by individual lifestyles and genes but also by social factors such as the socioeconomic position and social relation- ships of each individual. This edited volume focuses on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and healthy aging from the perspective of social epidemiology, which is concerned with how social structures, institutions, and relationships influence health. This book reviews the social determinants of health (SDH) that are widely addressed in the field of social epidemiology, with a particular focus on health dis- parity that is associated with socioeconomic status. NCDs and healthy aging are becoming public health challenges the world over, including in developing countries. Japan has the highest life expectancy and the largest older population in the world. This means that Japanese society needs evi- dence concerning the social determinants of NCDs to build a healthy aging society. A serial paper “Social Determinants of Health,” which was originally published in Japanese in the Japanese Journal of Public Health (Nihon-Koshu-Eisei-Zasshi) from 2010 to 2011, forms the basis of this book. The Japanese version of this book was published in 2013 with the aim of introducing evidence in the English literature to a broader cross section of readers. After the importance of these health disparities and SDH was recognized in Japan, a growing body of knowledge in the fields of social epidemiology and health disparities in Japan began to be published in both English and Japanese. The Science Council of Japan published recommendations for policymakers, who responded to the issue of health disparity and SDH in Japan accordingly. The second term (2013–2023) of the National Health Promotion Movement in the twenty-first cen- tury (Health Japan 21) began shortly after the publication of the Japanese version. It included “the reduction of health disparity” as one of its basic goals, and “improve- ment in the quality of the social environment” was also emphasized. After publishing the Japanese version of this book, we have added new evidence and experiences into this English version. A reader encountering a literature review on SDH for the first time may be surprised to see how many factors play significant roles in health challenges, such as lifestyles, NCDs, healthy aging, and health v vi Preface promotion. Therefore, this book should help to understand why policy changes in Japan were introduced in the second term of Health Japan 21. The first half of this volume reviews the available evidence on major NCDs, such as different types of cancer, heart and kidney diseases, diabetes, stroke, and meta- bolic syndrome. The second half explores various SDH related to healthy aging or functional declines and response, such as dementia, falls, life course, social capital, and health impact assessment. Readers, especially public health researchers and policymakers, will be able to understand the multifaceted measures that are neces- sary to address health disparity and SDH in the coming era of global aging. We hope that this book will contribute toward the promotion of deeper research, policy devel- opment, and practice throughout the world. Chiba, Japan Katsunori Kondo M. D., Ph. D. Obu City, Aichi, Japan October 2019 Acknowledgments This work was supported by a Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant (H30- Junkankitou- Ippan-004, H29-Chikyu-Kibo-Ippan-001, H24-Chikyu-Kibo- Ippan-009, H22-Chouju-Sitei-008, 19FA1012), the MEXT-Supported Program for the Strategic Research Foundation at Private Universities, Nihon Fukushi University (“Social epi- demiology research for the purpose of creating a society focused on well-being”), Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (19530490, 21530585, 17K04306, 18H03062, 16H05556, 18H04071, 19H03860), Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (19dk0110037), and a grant from the National Center for Gerontology and Geriatrics (#30-31). We received assistance from a Grant-in-Aid for the Publication of Scientific Research Results (Gakujutsu Tosho Shuppan 245263) for the publication of the Japanese version of this work. vii Contents 1 The Social Determinants of Health and Trends Concerning Health Disparity ������������������������������������������������������������������
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