Geriatric and General Medicine
Integration of geriatric medicine and general medicine: Realization of new medical care incorporating advanced research for the elderly
- To elucidate a novel mechanism of aging and develop treatment methods
- To clarify the mechanism of mild cognitive impairment and dementia and develop a screening tool for early detection
- To evaluate and intervene in frailty in elderly people by also using digital technology
- To develop a system to optimize healthcare and nursing care to prevent frailty, and contribute to the realization of a happy, longevity society
- To develop professional geriatric and general internists with excellent practice skills and expert elderly management capability
Realizing innovative medical care for elderly people by elucidating the mechanism of aging and developing evaluation and intervention methods required for clinical application
The mission of geriatrics is to provide medical care and nursing care for elderly people so that they can happily fulfill their lives including the extension of healthy life expectancy. Frailty is an important intervention point for this mission. Frailty is a clinical condition of diminished reserve capacity of elderly people between the healthy state and the state requiring nursing care. Frailty can be improved to a healthy state by intervention and is a turning point from medical care to nursing care. Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanism, and evaluate and intervene in frailty. Frailty is classified into physical frailty (frailty, sarcopenia, etc.) and cognitive frailty (MCI, dementia, etc.). In our laboratory, we conduct research mainly on frailty, such as elucidation of the mechanism of frailty, development of evaluation and treatment methods, prevention of frailty, and optimization of care during the transition period to long-term care.
The research group is divided into hypertension and aging, (physical) frailty and diabetes, dementia, and general medical care, and each group approaches from their specialized perspective. Through these studies, we have been conducting basic and clinical research to develop evaluation and intervention methods to reduce the impact of diseases and functional decline faced by humans in the old age as much as possible so that elderly people can fulfill a healthy and happy life. For the details of the research in each group, please see the website of the class.
https://www.med.osaka-u.ac.jp/pub/geriat/www/jgrpa.html
Our laboratory is also actively providing medical care at the University Hospital. The members have their own specialized fields (geriatrics, dementia, cardiology, diabetes, kidneys, general medical care, etc.), and at the same time, they aim to become physicians with high comprehensive medical capabilities for elderly people. We are emphasizing the nurturing of Professional Geriatric and General Practitioners who have excellent diagnostic capabilities, broad knowledge of elderly-specific pathology such as dementia, and expertise in medical problems of elderly people such as frailty and polypharmacy. In addition, we aim to introduce advanced medical care including AI developed through the research into the hospital practice and disseminate it to the world.
