The decline in physical and mental health, the loss of functional capabilities and the weakening of family and social ties represent a significant barrier to active ageing in a context of institutionalization.

The objective is to identify the differences and the main factors influencing health status and well-being variables between institutionalized and non-institutionalized older adults, as well as the interaction effect of institutionalization and age. Data on a total of 468 older adults from a national survey on non-institutionalized and from a study on institutionalized older people were analyzed. Socio-demographic variables and measures on well-being (Personal Well-being Index, PWI), health status (EQ-5D), functional ability (Barthel Index), depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression subscale), loneliness and comorbidity were used. Analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis tests to examine differences between groups and multiple regression analyses to identify factors associated to health and well-being were performed. Significant differences in health status variables, but not in well-being were detected between groups. Controlling for age, differences in health status (EQ-VAS) were found to be not significant in both groups. In the non-institutionalized group, people aged 78 years or more reported a significantly lower well-being (PWI) than younger counterparts. Step-wise multiple regression analysis showed that depression, functional dependence, loneliness and sex were associated with health status; while depression, health status, loneliness and the interaction of age-institutionalization were related to well-being. The results suggest that age influences community-dwelling older adults' well-being to a greater extent than it does to institutionalized older people. This finding has implications for resource allocation and interventions addressed to improve health and well-being in older adults.

This study analyzes the relationship between gender and self-perceived health status in Spanish retirees and housewives from a sample of 1,106 community-dwelling older adults. A multivariate linear regression model was used in which self-perceived health status was measured by the EQ-5D visual analogue scale and gender according to work status (retired men and women and housewives). Retired males reported a significantly better health status than housewives. Self-perceived health status was closely associated with physical, mental, and functional health and leisure activities. Finally, being a woman with complete dedication to domestic work is associated with a worse state of self-perceived health.

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Fundamentos: Las enfermedades cardiovasculares son la principal causa de muerte en el mundo, aunque su distribución espacial no es homogénea. El objetivo del estudio fue analizar el patrón espacial de la mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares en el área urbana poblada (AUP) del municipio de Madrid así como identificar agregaciones espaciales. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio ecológico, por sección censal, para hombres y mujeres durante 2010. Se calculó la Razón de Mortalidad Estandarizada (RME), Riesgo Relativo Suavizado (RRS) y Probabilidad Posterior (PP) de que el RRS fuera mayor que 1. Para identificar clusters espaciales se utilizó el índice de Moran (I Moran) y el Índice Local de Autocorrelación Espacial (LISA). Los resultados fueron representados cartográficamente. Resultados: En el caso de los hombres se observó una RME mayor de 1,1 especialmente en áreas centrales y en en el grupo de las mujeres ocurrió en la periferia. LA PP de que el RRS fuera mayor que 1 superó el 0,8 en el centro para los hombres y en la periferia en mujeres. El I Moran fue de 0,04 para hombres y de 0,03 para mujeres (p <0,05 en ambos casos). Conclusiones: En el patrón espacial de la mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares en Madrid, se observaron diferencias por sexo. Los mapas de RME, RRS y PP mostraron un patrón más heterogéneo en los hombres mientras que en las mujeres se detectó uno más definido, con un riesgo relativamente mayor en zonas periféricas del AUP. El método LISA mostró agrupaciones espaciales similares a los patrones anteriormente observadosBackground: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but its spatial distribution is not homogeneous. The objective of this study is to analyze the spatial pattern of mortality from these diseases for men and women, in the populated urban area (AUP) of the municipality of Madrid, and to identify spatial aggregations. Methods: An ecological study was carried out by census tract, for men and women in 2010. Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR), Relative Risk Smoothing (RRS) and Posterior Probability (PP) were calculated to consider the spatial pattern of the disease. To identify spatial clusters the Moran index (Moran I) and the Local Index of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) were used. The results were mapped. Results: SMR higher than 1.1 was observed mainly in central areas among men and in peripheral areas among women. The PP that RRS was higher than 1 surpassed 0.8 in the center and in the periphery, in both men and women. Moran’s I was 0.04 for men and 0.03 for women (p <0.05 in both cases). Conclusions: Sex differences were observed in the spatial distribution of mortality cases. RME RRS and PP maps showed a heterogeneous pattern in men, whereas in women a clearer pattern was detected, with a relatively higher risk in peripheral areas of the AUP. The LISA method showed similar patterns to those previously observe