TY - JOUR
T1 - Daily home gardening improved survival for older people with mobility limitations
T2 - An 11-year follow-up study in Taiwan
AU - Lêng, Chhian Hūi
AU - Wang, Jung Der
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Professor Jing-Hsiang Hwang of Academia Sinica for advising us on imputation methods for the missing values, and Bill Franke and Paul Steed for English editing and proofreading. This study is based on the data from the TLSA, provided by the Bureau of Health Promotion, Department of Health, Taiwan. The descriptions or conclusions herein do not represent the viewpoint of the Bureau. The fee of English editing of the revised manuscript was supported by the project funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST 104-2314-B-006-023).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Lêng and Wang.
PY - 2016/7/15
Y1 - 2016/7/15
N2 - Aims: To test the hypothesis that gardening is beneficial for survival after taking time-dependent comorbidities, mobility, and depression into account in a longitudinal middle-aged (50-64 years) and older (≥65 years) cohort in Taiwan. Methods: The cohort contained 5,058 nationally sampled adults ≥50 years old from the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (1996-2007). Gardening was defined as growing flowers, gardening, or cultivating potted plants for pleasure with five different frequencies. We calculated hazard ratios for the mortality risks of gardening and adjusted the analysis for socioeconomic status, health behaviors and conditions, depression, mobility limitations, and comorbidities. Survival models also examined time-dependent effects and risks in each stratum contingent upon baseline mobility and depression. Sensitivity analyses used imputation methods for missing values. Results: Daily home gardening was associated with a high survival rate (hazard ratio: 0.82; 95% confidence interval: 0.71-0.94). The benefits were robust for those with mobility limitations, but without depression at baseline (hazard ratio: 0.64, 95% confidence interval: 0.48-0.87) when adjusted for time-dependent comorbidities, mobility limitations, and depression. Chronic or relapsed depression weakened the protection of gardening. For those without mobility limitations and not depressed at baseline, gardening had no effect. Sensitivity analyses using different imputation methods yielded similar results and corroborated the hypothesis. Conclusion: Daily gardening for pleasure was associated with reduced mortality for Taiwanese >50 years old with mobility limitations but without depression.
AB - Aims: To test the hypothesis that gardening is beneficial for survival after taking time-dependent comorbidities, mobility, and depression into account in a longitudinal middle-aged (50-64 years) and older (≥65 years) cohort in Taiwan. Methods: The cohort contained 5,058 nationally sampled adults ≥50 years old from the Taiwan Longitudinal Study on Aging (1996-2007). Gardening was defined as growing flowers, gardening, or cultivating potted plants for pleasure with five different frequencies. We calculated hazard ratios for the mortality risks of gardening and adjusted the analysis for socioeconomic status, health behaviors and conditions, depression, mobility limitations, and comorbidities. Survival models also examined time-dependent effects and risks in each stratum contingent upon baseline mobility and depression. Sensitivity analyses used imputation methods for missing values. Results: Daily home gardening was associated with a high survival rate (hazard ratio: 0.82; 95% confidence interval: 0.71-0.94). The benefits were robust for those with mobility limitations, but without depression at baseline (hazard ratio: 0.64, 95% confidence interval: 0.48-0.87) when adjusted for time-dependent comorbidities, mobility limitations, and depression. Chronic or relapsed depression weakened the protection of gardening. For those without mobility limitations and not depressed at baseline, gardening had no effect. Sensitivity analyses using different imputation methods yielded similar results and corroborated the hypothesis. Conclusion: Daily gardening for pleasure was associated with reduced mortality for Taiwanese >50 years old with mobility limitations but without depression.
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U2 - 10.2147/CIA.S107197
DO - 10.2147/CIA.S107197
M3 - Article
C2 - 27486315
AN - SCOPUS:84982276941
VL - 11
SP - 947
EP - 954
JO - Clinical Interventions in Aging
JF - Clinical Interventions in Aging
SN - 1176-9092
ER -