王 鶴群

OBJECTIVES: Many studies have examined the impact of employment on health, but few large-scale longitudinal studies specifically investigate the impact of agricultural labor on the health of older adults. This study aims to identify the health effects of employment on older Japanese adults, focusing on agricultural workers. METHODS: This study uses longitudinal data collected by the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) from 2013 to 2019. We selected 48,221 older adults out of a total of 65,751 respondents, excluding missing values. The objective variables included healthy ageing, such as dementia, functional disability, loss of healthy life expectancy, and death. Explanatory variables were used to categorize participants into four groups: non-agricultural workers, agricultural workers, retired, and those who have never worked. Seven adjustment variables, including sex, age, and socioeconomic status, were considered. Logistic and modified Poisson regression analyses were employed after imputing missing values. RESULTS: Incidence ranged from 2.6 % (dementia) to 17.3 % (any level of functional disability). Post-multiple imputation analysis showed significantly lower odds ratios and risk ratios for dementia, functional disability, loss of healthy life expectancy, and death among non-agricultural and agricultural workers compared to retirees. The odds and risk ratios for agricultural workers ranged from 0.45 (dementia) to 0.69 (loss of healthy life expectancy). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with retirees, non-agricultural and agricultural workers experience significantly reduced risks for dementia, functional disability, loss of healthy life expectancy, and death. These findings showed potential health benefits associated with continued employment in older age.

OBJECTIVE: Living a happy life is an essential issue for old adults. However, how eating with others contributes to happiness and whether this association is different by living arrangements or not is unknown. The current study examined the relationship between the frequency of eating with others and happiness among older adults according to their living arrangements using 3-year longitudinal data. METHODS: The analyzed sample comprised 18,727 people (10,920 males and 7807 females) with low happiness (0-7 points on score of 0-10 points) from Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) in 2016. Our exposure was the frequency of eating with others: rarely, a few times a year, a few times a month, and a few times a week or more. We performed Modified Poisson Regression to examine the association between the frequency of eating with others and high happiness (8-10 points) in 2019 stratified by living arrangement (living alone/with others). RESULTS: A total of 4352 (23.2%) people showed high happiness in 2019. After adjusting for age, sex, marital status, education, household income, social participation, illnesses under treatment, and depressive symptoms in 2016, the cumulative incidence ratio (CIR) for high happiness in 2019 among people living alone was more significant, that is, 1.28 (95% confidence intervals: 0.88-1.87), 1.50 (1.05-2.14), and 1.82 (1.26-2.63), than 1.28 (1.11-1.48), 1.30 (1.12-1.50), and 1.33 (1.16-1.52) among people living with others for those who ate with others a few times a year, a few times a month, and a few times a week or more compared to those who rarely ate with others, respectively. The interaction between the frequency of eating with others and living arrangements was statistically significant. The trend test showed that higher frequency of eating with others was significantly associated with high happiness. CONCLUSIONS: Eating with others was associated with improved happiness among older adults, with such an association being stronger among people living alone.