Social Participation and Functional Decline: A Comparative Study of Rural and Urban Older People, Using Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study Longitudinal Data

Kazushige Ide, Taishi Tsuji, Satoru Kanamori, Seungwon Jeong, Yuiko Nagamine and Katsunori Kondo
Additional contact information
Kazushige Ide: Department of Community General Support, Hasegawa Hospital, Yachimata, Chiba 289-1113, Japan
Taishi Tsuji: Department of Social Preventive Medical Sciences, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
Satoru Kanamori: School of Nursing, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan
Seungwon Jeong: Department of Community Welfare, Faculty of Health Sciences, Niimi University, Nishigata Niimi, Okayama 718-8585, Japan
Yuiko Nagamine: Department of Social Preventive Medical Sciences, Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
Katsunori Kondo: Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 2, 1-13

Abstract: This study compared the relationship between social participation, including work, and incidence of functional decline in rural and urban older people in Japan, by focusing on the number and types of organizations older people participated in. The longitudinal data of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) that followed 55,243 individuals aged 65 years or older for six years were used. The Cox proportional hazards model was employed to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) of the incidence of functional decline over six years and the stratification of rural and urban settings. In this model, we adjusted 13 variables as behavioral, psychosocial, and functional confounders. The more rural and urban older people participated in various organizations, the more they were protected from functional decline. Participation in sports (HR: rural = 0.79; urban = 0.83), hobby groups (HR: rural = 0.76; urban = 0.90), and work (HR: rural = 0.83; urban = 0.80) significantly protected against the incidence of decline in both rural and urban areas. For both rural and urban older people, promoting social participation, such as sports and hobby groups and employment support, seemed to be an important aspect of public health policies that would prevent functional decline.

Keywords: social participation; work; functional decline; rural; urban (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/2/617/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/2/617/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:2:p:617-:d:310233

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().