Associations between living arrangements and health-related quality of life of urban elderly people: a study from China
Associations between living arrangements and health-related quality of life of urban elderly people: a study from China
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DOI：
10.1007/s11136-010-9752-z
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发表时间：
2011-04-01
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
Zhang, Yaoguang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sun, Xiaojie;Lucas, Henry;Zhang, Yaoguang
本研究旨在比较独居、与配偶同住及非空巢老人三种互斥居住安排下的老年男性和女性的健康相关生活质量。本研究还考察了在控制其他变量后，这种生活安排和其他与社会交往有关的因素是否对HRQOL有独立影响。数据来自2008年进行的中国第四次全国家庭健康调查（NHHS）。最终样本包括9，711名60岁及以上的城市老年人。采用EQ-5D量表测量健康相关生活质量，非空巢男女比例均随年龄增长呈“U”型曲线变化。控制其他变量，不包括社会互动指标，“独居”是一个显着的预测报告问题的流动性，疼痛/不适和焦虑/抑郁。在引入社会互动指标后，“每周与邻居密切接触”的城市老年人在所有五个EQ-5D指标上的问题发生率较低，“与朋友和亲戚密切接触”的老年人在行动能力、疼痛/不适和焦虑/抑郁方面的问题发生率较低，“每周参加社会活动”的老年人在除焦虑/抑郁外的所有维度上的问题发生率较低。此外，在引入社会互动指标后，三个维度的问题报告率均明显增加。本研究表明，城市老年人中最脆弱的是那些完全独立生活的老年人。频繁的社会交往可以缓冲独居对老年人HRQOL的负面影响。建立和谐社区、扩大老年人的社会网络、鼓励老年人参与社会活动是未来政策制定者应该考虑的问题。
This study aimed to compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) for elderly men and women in three mutually exclusive living arrangements: living alone, living only with spouse, and non-empty-nesters. It also examined whether such living arrangements and other factors relating to social interaction have an independent influence on HRQOL after controlling for other variables.The data were drawn from China's 4th National Household Health Survey (NHHS) conducted in 2008. The final sample included 9,711 urban elderly people of 60 years and above. The EQ-5D inventory was used to measure health-related quality of life.The proportions of non-empty-nested men and women both changed following a 'U'-shaped curve with the increasing age. Controlling for other variables not including social interaction indicators, "living alone" was a significant predictor of reporting problems on Mobility, Pain/Discomfort and Anxiety/Depression. After introducing social interaction indicators, urban older adults 'having close contact with neighbors every week' had lower odds of problems on all five EQ-5D indicators, those 'having close contact with friends and relatives' had lower odds of problems on Mobility, Pain/Discomfort and Anxiety/Depression, and those 'taking part in social activities every week' had lower odds of problems on all dimensions but Anxiety/Depression. In addition, after introducing social interaction indicators, the odds of reported problems on the three dimensions increased obviously.This study suggests that the most vulnerable urban older adults are those who live entirely on their own. Frequent social interaction may buffer the negative effect of living alone on HRQOL of older adults. Policies that attempt to build harmonious neighborhoods, extend older adults' social network and encourage them to take part in social activities should be considered by the policy-makers in the future.