[Physio-social activities and active life expectancy, life expectancy in Japanese elderly]

Incidence of loss of activity and death in elderly people living at home were investigated to attempt to determine their relationship to physio-social activities in elderly.

This longitudinal study of life expectancy and active life expectancies is a thirty-six months follow up study. Loss of activities were classified as follows: Long term (over six months) treatment at home, long term (over six months) admission to hospital or intermediate institute for the elderly, admission to nursing home, and death. Subjects were persons living at home in Ogi, Saga prefecture, aged 70 years or older not requiring help in active daily living (ambulating, bathing, dressing, discharging, eating).

6,274 (male = 2,383, female = 3,891) subjects were followed for thirty six months, and 178 people experienced long term treatment at home, 310 people had long term admission to a hospital or intermediate institute for elderly, 28 people were admitted to a nursing home and 449 people experienced death. The main results were as follows: (1) From the Cox proportional hazards model using the likelihood-ratio method of survival and active life loss, significant hazard ratios for reduction active life expectancy for male were found for age, disability score for ADL, speech disorder, inconvenient bathroom design, with attention to health, and daily activity were associated with extension of active life expectancy. Age, disability score for ADL, speech disorder, inconvenient bathroom design were associated with reduced life expecting, while, attention to health, choosing to undergo regular health examinations, and daily were associated with increased activity in life expectancy. (2) Hazard ratios for reduction active life expectancy for females were age, disability score for ADL, defect of memory deficits, inconvenient design for hallway and stairs. Participating in health examinations, Purpose in life were associated with life expectancy increase. For females were age, disability score for ADL, speech disorder, inconvenient design of bathroom were associated with decrease in life expectancy, while having a person in life was associated with increase in life expectancy.

Relationship between physio-social activities in elderly is a significant factor in many studies on elderly health. This study suggests that age, disability score for ADL, inconvenient for housing design, active health behavior, daily activities, and Losing a sense of worth in living, affect active life expectancy and life expectancy.