JSTAR project researchers aimed to construct a world-class longitudinal dataset on middle-aged and elderly Japanese persons to enable researchers worldwide to perform scientific investigation on aging and retirement from an international perspective. Despite the rapid aging of the Japanese population, no statistical survey that could properly capture the diversity of the elderly population from various viewpoints had been carried out in Japan until recently. RIETI, Hitotsubashi University jointly launched a comprehensive survey of elderly people in 2007 to collect panel data on their lives and health, with the University of Tokyo joining from 2009 onward.
The 2009 JSTAR survey includes a follow-up survey of the respondents to the 2007 survey and an initial survey of elderly people in two additional municipalities, i.e., Tosu in Saga Prefecture and Naha in Okinawa Prefecture, whereas the 2011 JSTAR Survey includes follow-up surveys of the respondents to the 2007 and 2009 surveys plus an initial survey of elderly people in three additional municipalities, Tondabayashi, Chofu, and Hiroshima
Archives
The study is a prospective cohort study that included 400 subjects with MCI enrolled in at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, China and a followed-up once annually for three years. The objectives are to identify individuals with MCI who convert to AD and to explore factors associated with the conversion. The observation time point is every 12 months and phone interview on 6th, 18th month. The primary endpoint was the time from diagnosis to the conversion from MCI to Probable AD Dementia. The secondary endpoints are the time to conversion from MCI to Possible AD Dementia or Probable AD Dementia, time to Conversion from MCI to All-cause Dementia, Overall survival, Changes in Neuropsychological examinations and Changes in MRI from baseline to the end of follow-up. The planned research duration was from Jan 2012 to Dec 2016.
A population-based prospective study of cerebro-cardiovascular diseases was begun in 1961 in the town of Hisayama, a suburb of the Fukuoka metropolitan area of Kyushu Island in Japan. In addition, comprehensive surveys of cognitive impairment in the elderly of this town have been conducted since 1985. In 1988, a total of 1,228 residents aged ?60 years (91.1% of the total population in this age group) participated in a screening examination for the present study. After exclusion of 33 subjects who had dementia, 90 who had already had breakfast, 5 who were on insulin therapy, and 81 who could not complete the OGTT, a total of 1,019 subjects without dementia underwent the OGTT. From a total of 1,019 subjects, 2 who died before starting follow-up were excluded, and the remaining 1,017 subjects (437 men and 580 women) were enrolled in this study.
The subjects were followed up prospectively for 15 years, from December 1988 to November 2003 (mean 10.9 years; SD 4.1 years).