Universities to conduct survey on longevity in northern Kyoto

August 18, 2017

KYOTO- Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine and Hirosaki University will launch a health survey in the Tango district in northern Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, to study the longevity of residents there.

The two universities will compare the survey results with data taken from similar surveys on residents in the northeastern prefecture of Aomori, which has the shortest life expectancy in the country. Hirosaki University is based in the Aomori city of Hirosaki.

"We don't know for sure why there are many people with long life expectancies in the Tango district," Satoaki Matoba, professor of cardiovascular medicine and nephrology at the prefectural university, based in the city of Kyoto, told a press conference on Aug. 10.

If the joint survey reveals the secret of longevity in Tango, the universities want to pass it on to other regions, Matoba said.

The number of people aged 100 or over in the city of Kyotango in the Tango district stood at 83 as of January last year, some 2.8 times the national average.

This week, the prefectural university began soliciting 500 Kyotango residents aged 65 or older to take part in the survey.

In the survey, participants will have a free health checkup once every two years at a city-run hospital to check 2,000 items, including those related to blood pressure, intestinal environment and genes. Jiji Press