Social participation and self-assessment of health status among older people in Brazil.

Abstract

To estimate the prevalence of social participation (exposure) and its association with positive self-assessment of overall health status (SAH) (outcome) among 7,712 Brazilian elderly interviewed in the National Health Survey 2013. A cross-sectional study that used Propensity Score (PS) to improve comparability between the group exposed and no exposed to social participation. Poisson regression was performed to determine the prevalence and association of interest using crude and adjusted by inverse probability of selection of PS. Social participation was reported by 25.1% (CI95%: 23.4-26.9) and was lower among poor older people, who depend on public transportation and live in more precarious contexts. Most did not SAH positively, but the proportion was higher when they had social participation (48.0%; CI95%: 46.0-51.0). There was a positive association of social participation with SAH positive. The association using the adjusted model (PR: 1.15; CI95%: 1.08-1.22) attenuated the estimated in the crude model. Elderly exposed were 15% more likely to provide a positive SAH. Despite low levels in Brazil, there was a positive association between of social participation and SAH, confirming that engagement in such activities provides important gains for the health and quality of life.