1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Follow-up Study on Lifestyle and Mortality among the Elderly
| Project/Area Number |
06670422
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Public health/Health science
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| Research Institution | Kochi Medical School |
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Principal Investigator |
OHARA Hiroshi Kochi Medical School, Department of Public Health, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (00033209)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
YASUDA Nobuhumi Kochi Medical School, Department of Public Health, Resarch Assistant, 医学部, 助手 (30240899)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1994 – 1995
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| Keywords | Elderly / Follow-up Study / Self Reported Health Status / Health Practice / Social Network / Mortality Risk |
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| Research Abstract |
The authors examine the associations of health practices and social networks and mortality among the elderly through a follow-up study. Subjects are community dwelling persons aged 65 or older (636 men and 857 women), living in Ohgata, Kochi Prefecture in 1982. At baseline, each subject reported their health practices (eating habit, bowel habit, sleeping hours, smoking and alcohol drinking) and social networks (spouse, living arrangements, contact with friends, attendance at group activities for the aged and jobs and/or family roles). The association between each practice or network and composite measure, that is the number of practces or networks subjects having and mortality was examined with a proportional hazards model adjusting for age and health status. Analyzes were stratified by gender and age (65-74;75+). Main findings are as follows.
1)In both men and women aged 75 and older, mortality among persons having two or less preferable practices had increased mortality risk (hazard ratio relative to those having all five practices = 1.92 among men and 2.33 among women, 95 percent confidence interval (CI) = 1.00-3.70 and 1.04-5.24 respectively).
2)In both men and women, the composite measure of social networks was associated with mortality among persons aged 75 and older. In men of this age group, only those having two or less items had increased mortality risk (hazard ratio relative to those having five items = 1.9, CI = 1.1-3.1). In women aged 75 or older, both of those having three items and two or less items had increased mortality risk (hazard ratio relative to those having five items = 1.9 and 2.4, respctively ; CI = 1.0-3.5 and 1.3-4.6 respectively).
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