Risk Factors Affecting
Health & Disease
There are numerous factors that can affect an individual's health that includes - but are not limited to - environmental factors, occupational factors, nutritional factors, and non-injury risk factors.
One of the major environmental factors that affect everyone individual within the country of Japan is air pollution that involves household air pollution and ambient particular matter. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately 3.8 million people die annually from air pollution that resulted from pneumonia, stroke, ischemic heart disease, COPD, or lung cancer (Skolnik, 2021). Occupational risk factors - such as pesticide use and chemical exposure or fumes - can also affect an individual's health (Skolnik, 2021).
Nutrition is another major factor that can directly or indirectly impact a person's health. According to Skolnik (2021), "nutritional status is fundamental to the growth of young children, their proper mental and physical development" (p 220) and determines an individual's ability to thrive. Nutritional factors can also determine life expectancy and helps to prevent diseases and alleviate the financial burden (Skolnik, 2021). Noncommunicable diseases such as "cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, musculoskeletal disorders, and some forms of cancer" (Skolnik, 2021, p 239) are the result of obesity and overweight. Japan has three different types of food intake patterns - traditional Japanese pattern, the Western pattern, and the meat and fat pattern - that affect the body of men and women differently (Htun, Suga, Imai, Shimizu, & Takimoto, 2017).
The last risk factor that can affect an individual's health is unintentional injuries, which are classified as a 'subset of injuries for which there is no evidence of predetermined intent" (Skolnik, 2021, p 452). According to Skolnik (2021), the top injury-related deaths for those between ages 5 and 24 involve road injuries because of various reasons ranging from lack of attention to poor road planning to high-speed traffic.
Other Examples of Unintentional Injuries:
-
Falls
-
Mechanical Force
-
Drowning
-
Hot Temperature, Low Temperature
-
Foreign/Harmful Substance
-
Electric Shock
-
Fire
(Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations, 2020)
(Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations, 2020)
An Environmental Factor
Air Pollution
Air pollution is a combination of biological materials, chemicals, and particle matter "that react with each other to form tiny hazardous particles" that lead to "breathing problems, chronic diseases, increased hospitalization, and premature mortality" (IAMAT, 2020). The World Health Organization recognizes that Japan's air quality is unsafe with the most recent annual data collected exceeding the recommended concentration of PM2.5 of 10μg/m3 at 12μg/m3 (IAMAT, 2020).
The top contributing factors to air pollution in Japan are industrial production, vehicle emissions, and cross-border pollution (IQAir, 2021). The toxic industrial pollutants produced by powerplants, and factors mainly include sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxides that result in acid rain (Encyclopedia of the Nations, n.d.). In Japan, approximately 31 out of 100,000 people died as a result of ambient particle pollution (OECD, 2021).
​
Symptoms (IAMAT, 2020)
-
Itchy eyes, nose & throat
-
wheezing, coughing & shortness of breath
-
chest pain, headaches, nausea
-
Upper respiratory infections
-
bronchitis & pneumonia
-
Long Term Effects
-
lung cancer
-
cardiovascular disease
-
chronic respiratory illness,
-
allergy development
Japan has several stringent emission standards along with environmental taxes - vehicle and energy - to help decrease the overall air pollution therefore increase the air quality (Gokhale, 2021).​
-
Follow (national and local) air pollution advisories
-
minimize exposure or determine if face mask is appropriate.​
-
-
Contact Provider - if diagnosed with asthma or COPD - about carrying inhaler, antibiotics, and/or oral steroids
-
Physical Exam w/stress or lung capacity test for individuals with pre-existing conditions.
Unintentional Injuries
Road Injuries
In 2019, there were 91.4 million registered motor vehicles in Japan with 86% of them being cars (OECD, 2020). According to Skolnik (2021), road injuries rank among the leading cause of death from injuries among high-income countries. Road fatalities occur when an individual dies within 24 hours or 30 days of a vehicle crash and in Japan, approximately 3.1 individuals per 100,000 population die which is slightly better than the European Union average of 5.1 per 100,000 people (OECD, 2020).
Factors Affecting Safety
(OECD, 2020)
-
Inappropriate (high) speeds led to 3.8% road fatalities
-
Driving under the influence killed 193 people, which was 4.9% of all road fatalities​​
-
Distractions, specifically cells phones, were responsible for 0.5% of deaths​​​​
-
Fatigue/Sleepiness
-
causes 0.1% of injuries​
-
1.2% of road fatalities
-
-
Lack of Seatbelts or Helmet resulted in 512 fatalities in 2019
The most recent health promotion approach to decreasing the occurrence of road injuries in Japan is called The Tenth Fundamental Traffic Safety Program, initiated in 2016 and later reassessed on its effectiveness in 2020 (Oguchi, 2016). The eight-step program focused on maintaining roads while also providing clear signs to promote safety for driving along with the rapid emergency response (OECD, 2020).
Additional measures used to promote road safety and eliminate fatalities were by using automated driving to assist with unintended acceleration and braking along with the increased fines for utilizing cell phones while driving (OECD, 2020). New and updated streets signs were also strategies used to improve safety, and the installation of additional traffic lights are to be incorporated to help drivers and pedestrians. These measures also allowed the establishment of additional emergency services to assist helicopters in landing to provide emergency - and life-saving - medical care (OECD, 2020).
(OECD, 2020)
(OECD, 2020)
(OECD, 2020)
(OECD, 2020)
References
Encyclopedia of the Nations. (n.d.). Japan - Environment. Encyclopedia of the Nations. Retrieved from https://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Japan-ENVIRONMENT.html.
​
Gokhale, H. (2021). Japan's carbon tax policy: Limitations and policy suggestions. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266604902100058X.
​
Htun, N. C., Suga, H., Imai, S., Shimizu, W., & Takimoto, H. (2017). Food intake patterns and cardiovascular risk factors in Japanese adults: analyses from the 2012 National Health and nutrition survey, Japan. Nutrition journal, 16(1), 61. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-017-0284-z
​
IAMAT. (2020). Japan General Health Risks: Air Pollution. IAMAT. Retrieved from https://www.iamat.org/country/japan/risk/air-pollution#.
​
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations. (2020). Japan. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations. Retrieved from http://www.healthdata.org/japan.
​
IQAir. (2021). Air Quality in Japan. Japan Air Quality Index (AQI) and Air Pollution information | AirVisual. Retrieved from https://www.iqair.com/us/japan.
​
OECD (2021). Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/japan/health-at-a-glance-japan-EN.pdf
​
OECD (2020). Road Safety Report: Japan. Retrieved from http://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/japan-road-safety.pdf
​
Oguchi, T. (2016). Achieving safe road traffic - the experience in Japan. IATSS Research. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111216000042?via%3Dihub.
​
Skolnik, R. (2021). Global Health 101 (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
