Epidemiology in Japan and Future Problems

A brief history of epidemiology in Japan is presented for the sake of convenience in three stages; the period of birth extending to the early 1940s, the period of growth from 1945 to 1964 and the peirod of development from 1965. The future problems facing epidemiology are also described. Even in the Meiji period, outstanding epidemiological studies were conducted by Dr. Kanehiro Takaki and Dr. Masakiyo Ogata, but it was only in 1938 that the first epidemiological research laboratory was formally established. Epidemiology at that time was confined to studies on epidemics of infectious diseases, but in the period of growth from 1945 there began to appear epidemiolgoical studies on non-infectious diseases such as adult diseases and diseases caused by environmental pollution. From the period of development commencing in 1965, the sphere of epidemiological studies was further expanded to include intractable diseases, and with the introduction of information science, epidemiology became actively involved in health services research. There are a number of problems facing epidemiology in Japan, including refinement of risk factors, improved measurements of exposure doses, emphasis on individual characterization aimed at health prediction, and development of new health indices. J Epidemiol, 1996 ; 6 : S3-S7.