Abstract

BackgroundSelf-rated health (SRH) is reported as a reliable predictor of disability and mortality in the aged population and has been studied worldwide to enhance the quality of life of the elderly. Nowadays, the elderly living alone, a particular population at great risk of suffering physical and mental health problems, is increasing rapidly in Japan and could potentially make up the majority of the aged population. However, few data are available pertaining to SRH of this population. Given the fact that sufficient healthcare is provided to the disabled elderly whereas there is little support for non-disabled elderly, we designed this population-based survey to investigate SRH of non-disabled elderly living alone and to identify the factors associated with good SRH with the purpose of aiding health promotion for the elderly.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in a metropolitan suburb in Japan. Questionnaires pertaining to SRH and physical conditions, lifestyle factors, psychological status, and social activities, were distributed in October 2005 to individuals aged ≥ 65 years and living alone. Response rate was 75.1%. Among these respondents, a total of 600 male and 2587 female respondents were identified as non-disabled elderly living alone and became our subjects. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify the factors associated with good SRH and sex-specific effect was tested by stepwise logistic regression.ResultsGood SRH was reported by 69.8% of men and 73.8% of women. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that good SRH correlated with, in odds ratio sequence, "can go out alone to distant places", no depression, no weight loss, absence of self-rated chronic disease, good chewing ability, and good visual ability in men; whereas with "can go out alone to distant places", absence of self-rated chronic disease, no weight loss, no depression, no risk of falling, independent IADL, good chewing ability, good visual ability, and social integration (attend) in women.ConclusionFor the non-disabled elderly living alone, sex-appropriate support should be considered by health promotion systems from the view point of SRH. Overall, the ability to go out alone to distant places is crucial to SRH of both men and women.

Highlights

  • Self-rated health (SRH) is reported as a reliable predictor of disability and mortality in the aged population and has been studied worldwide to enhance the quality of life of the elderly

  • The distribution of SRH by sex and by age is shown in Table 1. 69.8% of men and 73.8% of women reported a good SRH (p < 0.05)

  • Good SRH responses were significantly more frequent in the 65–74 years age group than in the 75+ years age group (p < 0.05), but this difference was not found in men

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Summary

Introduction

Self-rated health (SRH) is reported as a reliable predictor of disability and mortality in the aged population and has been studied worldwide to enhance the quality of life of the elderly. The elderly living alone, a particular population at great risk of suffering physical and mental health problems, is increasing rapidly in Japan and could potentially make up the majority of the aged population. Self-rated health (SRH) is a subjective assessment of individual health status and has been well documented as a reliable predictor of functional disability and mortality in aged populations [1,2,3,4,5]. In light of the great burden this places on society, SRH as a reliable predictor of disability and mortality of the aged should be well studied among the elderly living alone. There are few reports that focus on SRH of the elderly living alone

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