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Relation between working into old age and MMSE: A study on older dressmakers in Japan
Author(s) -
Sooudi Kazuyo K
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1002/alz.044086
Subject(s) - dementia , psychology , cognition , government (linguistics) , gerontology , cognitive decline , pension , working memory , medicine , psychiatry , finance , linguistics , economics , philosophy , disease , pathology
Background The number of older adults in Japan with dementia including MCI is estimated to increase to 13 million by 2025. The author’s earlier study indicated that a top concern among Japanese is dementia. The government also plans to increase the age to receive pension, which means older adults must work much longer. Purpose: To identify any benefits of working beyond retirement age from a dementia point of view. Methods Conducted the MMSE and one‐on‐one interviews with working seniors about their beliefs and life values (n=11). Analyzed interview contents using text mining tool. Ethical considerations: Ethics Committee of Nakamura Sewing Company approved research plan. Results Fifty percent of subjects work full time (Av. Age: 73, 66‐80 YO. old, SD=4.1). All subjects achieved a perfect score on the MMSE, except on calculation (Av. score 2.6, 1‐5). Through text mining, top 4 words (word cloud) were “health, customer, satisfaction, responsibility” and top 3 words (word frequency) were “age, responsibility, equal.” All subjects walk to office (Av. 3km). Discussion: Although previous studies have stated that cognitive decline in memory starts in one’s late 30’s and reasoning/verbal ability in one’s 50’s, the subjects in this study did not show any obvious decline through the MMSE and the interview process. Most of them work as dressmakers an average of 30hours/w. This small study indicates that working into older age may contribute not only to financial security but also to delaying dementia. All subjects stated that they are very conscious not to use their age as an excuse for any error they make and expect to get equal remuneration for their work. Conclusions Active lifestyle including working into the old age may be a way for older Japanese to maintain personal health (delaying and/or avoiding dementia) and also to sustain financial security.