The Mima-SONGS Study, conducted by Takaharu Goto and his colleagues, is a cross-sectional research project involving 105 outpatients aged 65 and over. This study focuses on ikigai and also examines sarcopenia, a condition characterized by the loss of muscle mass and strength with age. The research assesses the relationship between sarcopenia, frailty, nutritional status, and overall life functions.
A unique study focused on Koyadaira area
Nick: So with your study, you did a cross-sectional study on sarcopenia, frailty and healthy life expectancy. Can you share the details of the cross-sectional study. and maybe we should define sarcopenia.
Takaharu: Yes, as I mentioned earlier, this study is called the Mima-SONGS study. This cross-sectional study included 105 outpatients, aged 65 and over, who regularly visit the Mima Municipal Koyadaira Clinic, the medical institution only in this area.
In this paper, we present the results of our research focusing on ikigai. In addition to this ikigai research, for example, sarcopenia, which means musculoskeletal disease in which mass muscle mass, strength, and performance significantly compromised with age was assessed in this study.
In addition to this sarcopenia status, frailty, oral function, food intake, nutritional status, and higher life functions were assessed, and have presented the relationship between them. One of our co-researchers, Mio Kitamura of Tokushima University, this year, she published an interesting study on the relationship between field work as a daily life task and the physical and cognitive function among the elderly living in Koyadaira area.
This field work as a daily life task means working in small-scale cultivated land. In this Koyadaira area, many elder people actually felt that working in this small-scale cultivated land was their ikigai. The Mima-SONGS study was conducted with a baseline survey in 2018. And the second survey five years later in 2023, last year.
So the data from the longitudinal study is currently being comprised under the supervision of the principal investigator Dr. Fujiwara.
Nick: I understand. So quite a lot of people, and quite a lot of research has been conducted for this study. And again, it's quite unique, it's isolated to this hilly, mountainous area of Japan. And it included fieldwork, so that means people going out, and talking to people, making observations.
Takaharu: This 105 patients, are almost all the people living in Koyadaira, so it's a very unique study supervised by Dr. Fujiwara.
Nick: So when we're saying old, would that be 60 and above? 70 and above? Or 80 and above? What age group?
Takaharu: The oldest age now is over 90. So the above average age is 79.02, is the average age.
Nick: Okay, so 70s and above? Wow.