Neighborhood interaction at age 65 and subsequent initiation and cessation of social participation in Japanese older adults: the NISSIN Project

Whether neighborhood interaction is differently associated with initiation and cessation of social participation in early old age remains unclear. We analyzed 1,688 Japanese adults surveyed at ages 65 and 70. Initiation and cessation were examined separately using modified Poisson models with robust standard errors after multiple imputation. Baseline neighborhood interaction was categorized as none, sometimes, or regularly. Additional analyses of 308 baseline nonparticipants used an 8-item outcome excluding community events and neighborhood associations and examined the number of activities and total score at age 70. Compared with no interaction, adjusted relative risks for initiation were 1.29 (95% CI, 1.06, 1.58) for sometimes and 1.33 (1.05, 1.68) for regularly. Corresponding cessation estimates were 1.23 (0.58, 2.64) and 1.07 (0.48, 2.40). Neighborhood interaction was associated with lower cessation of community-oriented activities. Among baseline nonparticipants, relative risks for 8-item initiation were 1.43 (1.13, 1.80) and 1.43 (1.07, 1.92). Adjusted mean differences in the number of activities at age 70 were 0.75 (0.31, 1.20) and 1.03 (0.36, 1.69), and differences in total score were 0.93 (0.34, 1.52) and 1.36 (0.43, 2.29), respectively. Direct contrasts between regularly and sometimes were imprecise. Neighborhood interaction at age 65 was associated with subsequent initiation and lower cessation of community-oriented activities. These observational findings support investigation of local social conditions related to participation.