Tohoku University Hospital Health Checkup Satellite "Machikado Health Lab" Opens at Aeon Tomiya Store

Key points of the announcement

• On July 18th, we opened the "Community Health Lab" at Aeon Tomiya Store, a commercial facility in Tomiya City, Miyagi Prefecture, as a satellite facility of Tohoku University Hospital.
• We will permanently install simple self-check devices, and those who give their consent will be asked to cooperate in research aimed at the early detection of diseases, etc., and health consultations will be provided based on the measurement results.
• We will promote cohort studies and work to build a research infrastructure for disease prediction and prevention.
• Leveraging the research infrastructure of the "Vision to Connect" center (Note 1), we aim to promote healthcare research and its social implementation through co-creation among universities, local governments, and companies.

overview

Tohoku University Hospital (Sendai City, Hospital Director: Hideo Harigae), ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Ltd. (Head Office: Osaka City, President and Representative Director President and Representative Director Masafumi Sugimoto), and AEON Tohoku Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Akita City, President and CEO: Masanobu Tsuji) opened the "Tohoku University Hospital Health Checkup Satellite Machikado Health Lab AEON Tomiya Store" on July 18th as part of the activities of the Tohoku University COI-NEXT "Vision to Connect" base (Sendai City, Project Leader: Toru Nakazawa).

Eye diseases with few noticeable symptoms tend to be detected late, and because sufficient treatment effects cannot be obtained, it is important to create a society that promotes early detection and behavioral change. The Tohoku University COI-NEXT "Vision to Connect" center has been working in collaboration with Tohoku University Hospital, which plays a central role in medical care in the Tohoku region, ROHTO Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which provides healthcare solutions, and AEON Tohoku Co., Ltd., which supports local life, to consider creating a system that promotes awareness of eye and overall health along daily life and encourages behavioral change.

The "Community Health Lab" being opened will be a facility where customers visiting Aeon Tomiya store can self-check their eye and overall health. Those who give their consent will be asked to cooperate in research aimed at the early detection of diseases. In addition to ophthalmological examinations such as visual acuity, functional visual acuity, and visual field, the facility will also conduct comprehensive checks of eye and overall health, including skin, sleep, autonomic nervous system and blood flow tests. For those who consent to participate in the research and wish to do so, a doctor from Tohoku University Hospital will provide health consultations and lifestyle advice (Note 2) once a week by appointment. Furthermore, the measurement results of those who have given their consent will be used to build and utilize a data base for disease prediction and prevention research.
By clarifying the relationship between measurement results from non-medical devices and disease risk, as well as behavioral changes in patient visits, based on evidence, we will promote research and development of medical devices, systems, predictive models, and services that contribute to the early detection and prevention of diseases within the context of daily life. Starting in the field of ophthalmology, we plan to expand to other medical fields in the future.
Through this initiative, we aim to promote healthcare research and its social implementation through co-creation among universities, local governments, and companies, and to support local residents in leading healthier lives.

Terminology

Note 1: "Vision to Connect" locations:
JST Co-creation Platform Formation Support Program (COI-NEXT) is an abbreviation for "An Empowerment Social Co-creation Hub that Supports Human Connections and Self-Realization Starting from 'Visibility'."
Our goals are to create a society where everyone, at every stage of life, can live and work together and live independently, targeting "independence (social issue), prevention (medical issue), and change in awareness (personal issue)."

Note 2: This facility does not provide medical treatment.

Roles of each collaborating organization in this initiative

Tohoku University Hospital

Tohoku University Hospital, as a regional hub hospital, is committed to providing the best possible treatment for its patients. Furthermore, through its participation in the "Community Health Lab," it will contribute to promoting health initiatives that lead to disease prevention and early detection. Through this initiative, we aim to realize sustainable healthcare for the future, enabling everyone to lead a healthy life.

Rohto Pharmaceutical

We aim to provide healthy individuals with convincing information and solutions regarding self-care, striving to realize health management that does not rely solely on medication. Furthermore, in collaboration with Tohoku University's COI-NEXT "Vision to Connect" center, we aim to accelerate the research and development and implementation of technologies and materials necessary for the early detection and prevention of diseases in daily life, and to continue contributing to the physical and mental health of people in the region and around the world.

Aeon Tohoku

At Aeon Tomiya store, we offer a comprehensive self-check facility for your eyes and overall health, including ophthalmological examinations such as visual acuity, functional visual acuity, and field of vision, as well as examinations of skin, sleep, autonomic nervous system, and blood flow.

Tohoku University COI-NEXT “Vision to Connect” base

At this center, we will use the "Community Health Lab" as a core field for social implementation, working to create a system for future-oriented health checkups and early preventive interventions, conducting research, developing platforms, and carrying out awareness activities. In addition to measurement data from medical devices, we will also acquire data from non-medical devices that can be measured more easily, aiming to clarify the relationship between various data and disease risk, and to obtain evidence that will lead to early detection of diseases and health advice tailored to individual constitutions.