フレイル・サルコペニアに対する漢方療法

Aging-related frailty and sarcopenia. Kampo medicine for frailty and sarcopenia.

　超高齢化社会を迎えるわが国では，介護・寝たきりの原因となるフレイル・サルコペニアに対する対策が急務となっている。フレイル・サルコペニアの病態は複合的であり，臓器横断的に症状を改善することが知られ，心身のバランスを診て投与する漢方薬が有効なケースが多い。2015年に「高齢者の安全な薬物療法ガイドライン2015」が全面改訂され，高齢者に有用性が示唆される漢方薬が取り上げられ，漢方療法のエビデンスが集積されつつある。我々は，フレイル・サルコペニアを，漢方医学で老化現象を表す概念である「腎虚」としてとらえ，動物実験モデルで，補腎薬である牛車腎気丸（ゴシャジンキガン）の抗サルコペニア効果を明らかにした。

　In Japan, which is entering a super-aged society, the prevention of long-term care and bedridden caused by frailty and sarcopenia have been recognized as an urgent need. The pathology of frailty and sarcopenia includes broad problems of senility. A traditional herbal medicine is known to improve symptoms across the organs, many herbal medicines administered by examining the balance of mind and body are effective for frailty and sarcopenia. "The Safety Drug Therapy Guideline 2015 for the Elderly" was fully revised in 2015. In this guideline, traditional herbal medicines, which are suggested to be useful for the elderly, have been taken up, and the evidence of which is being accumulated. We regarded frailty and sarcopenia as ‘kidney-Qi’ deficiency, a concept that represents aging phenomenon in Kampo medicine and clarified the anti-sarcopenic effects of Go-sha-jinki-gan, a ‘kidney-Qi’-tonifying medicine, using animal experimental models.