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 For study participants in their 70s, 80s and 90s, the frequency with
which they left the house predicted how likely they were to make it
to the next age milestone, researchers report in Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society.
“The simple act of getting out of the house every day propels people
into engagement with the world,” said lead author Dr. Jeremy Jacobs
of Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem in a phone
interview.
“We saw similar benefits that you’d expect from treating blood
pressure or cholesterol with medicine,” Jacobs said. “Social factors
are important in the process of aging.”
Jacobs and colleagues analyzed data on 3,375 adults at ages 70, 78,
85 and 90 who were participating in the Jerusalem Longitudinal
Study.
Based on their responses to questions about how often they left the
house, participants were grouped into three categories: frequently
(six or seven days per week), often (two to five times per week) or
rarely (once a week or less).
People who left the house frequently at any of the ages examined
were significantly more likely to live to the next age group. For
example, among people who left the house frequently, often or rarely
at age 78, 71 percent, 67 percent and 43 percent, respectively,
survived to age 85. Among people who left the house frequently,
often or rarely at age 90, 64 percent, 56 percent and 38 percent,
respectively, made it to 95.
At all ages, people who left home less frequently tended to be male,
less educated and to have higher rates of loneliness, financial
difficulties, poor health, fatigue, poor sleep, less physical
activity, bladder and bowel problems, history of falling in the last
year, fear of falling, visual and hearing impairments, chronic pain
and frailty.
The link between leaving the house and longevity, however, remained
after the researchers accounted for medical or mobility issues such
as chronic pain, vision or hearing impairment, diabetes,
hypertension, heart disease and kidney disease.
“We included people who had mobility difficulties, so this isn’t
just about people moving their legs up and down,” Jacobs said.
“That’s quite exciting. There’s something about interacting with the
world outside that helps.”
The study did not examine the effect on participants of leaving the
house, such as their sense of wellbeing or purpose. It also didn’t
look at environmental factors that might foster or prevent going
out, the authors note.
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Future studies will look at the oldest cohort (age 95) as they reach
98 to 100 in coming years, Jacobs said. He and his colleagues are
also interested in the role that optimism, social engagement and
environmental aspects such as community sidewalks play in longer
life.
“Studies show that if you create walkways that are friendly for
walking, people start walking,” he said. “In neighborhoods with
older adults, walkways with benches could encourage them to get out
of the house and be social.”
Researchers are interested in finding ways to encourage adults to
leave their home more and to develop systems that help them do that,
said Dawn Mackey of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada,
who wasn’t involved in the study.
“It may be helpful for older adults and their caregivers to make
plans to go out of the house more often,” she told Reuters Health by
email. “And try to build up to going out of the house every day.”
They could plan these outings with these questions: When will it
work best for me to leave the house? Where do I want to go? Is there
someone to go out with or to meet when I am out? What are my options
if the weather is bad or if I’m not feeling well one day?
“The wellbeing of our older adults is of paramount importance for
public health and economic viability,” she said. “Going out of the
house is an important way to maintain mobility and social engagement
and ward off loneliness.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2DVrdwP Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society, online November 22, 2017.
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