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Hindi Research Article
The Influence of Changed Life Environment on Swallowing and Respiration in Healthy Elderly: A Comparison of Disaster Victim and Non-Victim Elderly Individuals
Higashijima M1*, Shiozu H2 and Inokuti S31Department of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Japan
2Humanitec Medical and Welfare College, Yokkaichi, Japan
3Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy Master Course Health Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
- Corresponding Author:
- Misako Higashijima
Department of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Sciences
Unit of Rehabilitation Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Nagasaki University, 1-7-1 Sakamoto
Nagasaki, Nagasaki 852-8520, Japan
Tel: +81-95-819-7939
Fax: +81-95-819-7996
E-mail: higajima@nagasakiu.ac.jp
Received Date: December 19, 2016; Accepted Date: January 10, 2017; Published Date: January 16, 2017
Citation: Higashijima M, Shiozu H, Inokuti S (2017) The Influence of Changed Life Environment on Swallowing and Respiration in Healthy Elderly: A Comparison of Disaster Victim and Non-Victim Elderly Individuals. J Community Med Health Educ 7:498. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000498
Copyright: © 2017 Higashijima M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to clarify problems that the swallowing and respiratory functions of victim elderly individuals in Fukushima. Participants were healthy elderly individuals, who were living in Fukushima or Nagasaki in Japan. The subjects in the Fukushima group were 50 elderly individuals, and the subjects in the Nagasaki group were 19 elderly individuals. The swallowing and respiratory functions were compared between the 2 groups, and the 5 groups (4 areas in the Fukushima group and 1 area in the Nagasaki group). The swallowing and respiratory functions were significantly lower in the Fukushima group than in the Nagasaki group. We conclude that it is important to include social environment in the assessment of and intervention for respiratory and swallowing problems in victims of disaster.
