Abstract
Although previous studies have investigated the relationship between agricultural work and health conditions in older adults, little attention has been paid to crop handling. In this study, we aimed to clarify the relationship between agricultural work, crop handling/sales, and health. A survey was conducted of older adults attending health examinations in Tosa Town, Kochi Prefecture. To clarify the relationship among comprehensive geriatric assessment items, the t-test was used for comparisons between two groups according to the presence or absence of agricultural work, and one-way analysis of variance with multiple comparisons was used for comparison among three groups according to the presence or absence of crop handling and agricultural work. The analyses were performed separately for men and women. The analysis results showed that male participants who were engaged in agricultural work had significantly better indicators of ability to walk and stand up as well as higher scores for social roles on the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence compared with those who were not engaged in agricultural work. No significant differences were found between the two groups of women. In three-group comparisons, the subjective well-being and social roles of men and women who did agricultural work and distributed their crops were significantly higher than those who did not do agricultural work and those who did agricultural work but did not distribute their crops.
