Research from University of Yamanashi Yields New Findings on Medical Research (Farm working experience could reduce late-life dependency duration among Japanese older adults: The Yamanashi Healthy-Active Life Expectancy cohort study based on …)

2020 OCT 05 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Hospital & Nursing Home Daily -- Current study results on Health and Medicine - Medical Research have been published. According to news reporting from Yamanashi, Japan, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “With the advance of medical care, the duration of dependency on nursing care in later life has increased worldwide. There is a question of whether farm work could extend or shorten the dependency duration.”

Funders for this research include The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Researc, The Japan Scietiy for the Promotion of Science Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Researc.

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Yamanashi, “We investigated the association between farm work experience and the duration of dependency on nursing support or care in late life.We randomly selected 600 adults aged 65 years, who were independent and not hospitalized, as part of the Yamanashi Healthy-Active Life Expectancy cohort and followed them for 13 years. We defined the duration of dependency as the time from reception of long-term care insurance benefits to death, and we adjusted for multiple covariates.We analyzed data from 225 adults (139 men and 86 women) who died during the follow-up period. Ninety four had received long-term care benefits. Mean age was 79.6 years (standard deviation [SD]: 6.3) in individuals with farm work experience and 80.1 years (SD: 7.2) in individuals without farm work experience. The estimated duration of dependency on long-term care was 1.3 years (standard error [SE]: 0.4) in individuals with farm work experience vs 2.1 years (SE: 0.5) in individuals without farm work experience (p=.01). The estimated duration of dependency in individuals with farm work experience and without farm work experience was 0.4 years (SE: 0.5) vs 1.3 years (SE: 0.6) in men respectively (p=.03) and 1.6 years (SE: 0.9) vs 2.4 years (SE: 0.9) in women, respectively (p=.16). The sensitivity analysis yielded an estimated duration of 1.2 years (SE: 0.5) in those with farm work experience and 2.3 years (SE: 0.5) in those without farm work experience (p=.004).Individuals with farm work experience required less long-term care prior to death, suggesting that agricultural and physical activities promote health.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Policymakers focusing on preventing the need for nursing care in older populations could consider promoting farming or gardening.”

For more information on this research see: Farm working experience could reduce late-life dependency duration among Japanese older adults: The Yamanashi Healthy-Active Life Expectancy cohort study based on the STROBE guidelines. Medicine, 2020;99(38):e22248. Medicine can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Medicine - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/medicine/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Hiroshi Yokomichi, Dept. of Health Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Shimokato, Chuo City, Yamanashi, Japan. Additional authors for this research include Kayo Haruyama and Zentaro Yamagata.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/md.0000000000022248. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Medicine is: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 530 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19106-3621, USA.

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