| Research Abstract |
We evaluated the association between changes in psychosocial conditions (assessed in 1992 and 1998) and subsequent mortality through 2001 among 741 Japanese people aged 65 years and older living in A city, Osaka, in 1992. After adjustment for potential predictors of mortality, the relative risk of mortality, compared with subjects who continued to participate in social activities, was 1.44 (95%-Cl, 0.47-4.40), 4.03 (Cl, 2.11-7.67), and 2.31 (Cl, 1.28-4.17) for those who started, discontinued, and did not participate at any time, respectively. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk of mortality, compared with those who did not find human relationships difficult in either survey, was 0.88 (Cl, 0.26-3.05) for those who did not find such relationships difficult, 1.73 (Cl, 1.03-2.88) for those who occasionally found them difficult, and 6.62 (Cl, 2.43-18.03) for those who continuously found them difficult. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk of mortality, relative to those who consistently considered life worth living (Ikigai), was 0.72 (Cl, 0.28-1.87), 2.22 (Cl, 1.44-3.42), and 1.46 (Cl, 0.65-3.31) for those who found, lost, and did not find life worth living in either survey, respectively. A deterioration in psychosocial conditions as well as continuously poor psychosocial conditions may be an important determinant of mortality risk for elderly people.
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