Determinants of change in self-rated health among older adults in Europe: a longitudinal perspective based on SHARE data

Abstract

The present study aims at detecting factors which may predict a decline or an improvement in self-rated health (SRH) of older adults (persons aged 50 or higher) among socio-demographic characteristics, physical and mental health indicators and risky health behaviours. In the analysis, multinomial logistic regression models are applied to data from waves 1 and 2 of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (carried out about 3 years apart); persons who report a decline or an improvement in SRH at wave 2 are compared to those who report no change while controlling for SRH at baseline and country of residence. The analysis was carried out for the whole sample and two subgroups, persons aged 50-64 and 65 or higher. The results indicate that female sex and higher educational attainment have a strong protective effect against decline in SRH. Worse health at baseline is an important predictor of subsequent decline but changes occurring between the waves have a more pronounced effect, implying that SRH is influenced more by recent developments. The findings also indicate that improvement in SRH is a more complex concept than decline and is strongly affected by factors other than health. Among behavioural risk factors, low levels of physical activity and a decrease in the levels of activity between the waves are significantly related to decline while frequent drinking seems associated with improvement. Differentiations by age are modest and probably suggest that advancing age is related to a milder view of one's health.

Prevalence and socioeconomic correlates of chronic morbidity among elderly people in Kosovo: a population-based survey

“…However, this resembles prior reports from studies conducted elsewhere, which have pointed out not significant relationships between education and the number of chronic conditions and multimorbidity in multivariable-adjusted models [37-40]. Thus, a study including individuals aged ≥18 years reported a non-significant association between education and multimorbidity [36], whereas a large cohort study among elderly people aged 50–75 years old reported that, upon multivariable-adjustment, the association of multimorbidity with education weakened in men, whereas in women it was not statistically significant [41].…”

Self‐rated health and associated factors among older people living alone in Shanghai

“…Generally, advanced age is related to more chronic diseases, more depression and a lower level of functional ability, which consequently induce poorer SRH. Physical activity, 15,49 loneliness, 55 and social support 56 have been regarded as determinants of SRH; however, they were not significant in the multinomial logistic regression models in the present study. 48 The present study found that the participants aged 60-69 years were more likely to rate their health as good, whereas there were no significant differences between the participants aged 70-79 years and those aged 80 years and older regarding SRH.…”

Self-Rated Health Among Very Old People in European Countries

“…Various aspects of objective health are important predictors of subjective health (Pinquart, 2001), for example, physical health, consisting of perceived symptoms and the number of medical conditions, is strongly related to SRH and is seen as a predictor of SRH (Mora et al, 2008). Poorer physical health is related to lower SRH (Eriksson, Unden, & Elofsson, 2001; French, Sargent-Cox, & Luszcz, 2012; Leinonena, Heikkinena, & Jylhä, 2001; Verropoulou, 2012). Nevertheless, aging people are often able to adapt to a decline in physical health, and therefore not always result in a decline in SRH (Leinonena et al, 2001).…”

“…SRH is also based on culture and may be affected by the country of residence. In Europe, there are major variations in rating and perspectives of health among countries (Verropoulou, 2012). A more favorable or more negative rating of health is part of the character of individuals and the environment in which they live and depends on the aspects that an individual ascribes to her health (Brissette, Leventhal, & Leventhal, 2003; Jylhä, 2009).…”