Understanding Japan’s mortality advantage: a comparison of mortality in independent and dependent older adults in Japan and Sweden
Our findings show that Japan's longevity advantage in old age is primarily driven by lower mortality in the segment of the population utilizing LTC. This indicates that the overall advantage in life expectancy may not stem solely from a healthier population, but rather from more extensive, or possibly higher-quality, care, including life-sustaining treatments. However, since we were unable to control for differences in health status in the two populations, future studies should explore if the threshold for entering LTC is different in Sweden and Japan.
Authors
- Rei Ono (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0176-2870)
- Shunsuke Murata (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1670-020X)
- Marcus Ebeling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6531-8525)
- Haruhisa Fukuda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1120-1548)
- Karin Modig
- Katharina Schmidt‑Mende
- Megumi Maeda
Institutions
- Hyogo University of Health Sciences (JP)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Kyushu University (JP)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition (JP)
- Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (DE)
- Stockholm Health Care Services (SE)
- National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (JP)
- Kobe University (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Medicine
- Published
- 2026-03-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-026-04786-z
- Primary Topic
- Global Health Care Issues
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00