Gender differences in hazard rate affecting death in the elderly population in Taiwan

As the age-specific mortality of women is lower than that of men, feminization of later life is becoming common in all societies. Although elderly women enjoy lower mortality, the health status of women is not necessarily better than that of men. In this study, the mortality change, characteristics of the elderly population, and the trend of feminization in later life in Taiwan was reviewed. Various measures which are used to analyze the gender differences of health status among Taiwan's elderly, and estimation of the effects of factors influencing health were discussed using data from The Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan, published by The Department of Health in the Bureau of Health Promotion. The patterns of diseases, functional status, self-rated health and causal relationships among them were also investigated. The hazard rate model was employed to compare the dynamics of health and the functional status for men and women. The probability of being institutionalized and/or death for women is lower than for men for all functional status. However, the health status of women is not significantly better than men. Elderly women are less affected by fatal diseases but have more benign diseases restricting motion and function, which unexpectedly extends the effects of being more cautious, and, therefore, women live longer. The influence of self-rated health and functional status to hazard rate of death for both genders was equivalent and coincides with what was previously anticipated.