Relationships between working status and health or health-care utilization among Japanese elderly.

Background: As we have previously proposed redefining elderly from "65 years and over" to "75 and over" in Japan, many elderly Japanese now keep working beyond the traditional retirement age, around 60-65 years of age, in this rapidly aging society. It is important to assess the influence of working status on health and health-care utilization among elderly Japanese.

Methods: We evaluated a random sample of community-dwelling Japanese elderly, aged 55-74 years. Data were collected using a health diary strategy. For health-related quality of life (HRQOL), we used SF-8 with a physical component summary (PCS8) and a mental component summary (MCS8). Health-care utilization included visiting physicians as well as using dietary and physical complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Results: Among 679 participants aged 65-74 years (40.6% men), there were 254 (37.4%) working and 425 (62.6%) non-working. PCS8 and MCS8 were not significantly different between the working status groups. There were no differences in the rate for visiting physicians and using dietary and physical CAM between the working and non-working, except for those aged 70-74 years, who exhibited a higher rate for visiting a physician among the non-working. A higher annual personal income showed a significant association with better PCS8 (P = 0.031) and a trend towards better MCS8 (P = 0.055). The older participants were more likely to report better MCS8 than the young regardless of working status (P = 0.007).

Conclusion: Working status itself does not appear to associate with health and health-care utilization among elderly Japanese. Working with a higher income may potentially improve HRQOL.