Five-year survival rate among older adults participating in the national geriatric screening program: A South Korean...

This study aimed to assess the health benefits of a geriatric screening program comprising of physical function tests, screening questionnaires for depression and cognitive impairment, and bone mineral density measurements for women as a part of the National Screening Program for Transitional Ages (NSPTA). We compared the all-cause mortality between subjects who did and did not participate in the screening program.

This was a nationwide longitudinal study with a 5-year follow-up based on a 10% sample of the National Health Insurance beneficiaries aged 60 years and older. Mortality records were obtained from the qualification dataset in the elderly cohort database of 2005-2013 provided by the National Health Insurance Service. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the mortality risk. We sampled 11,986 subjects each in the screened (intervention) and non-screened (control) groups after exact matching using propensity score.

After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics (age, sex, household income, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, body mass index, and the Charlson Comorbidity Index), all-cause mortality rates were found to be significantly lower (a) in the intervention group compared to the control group (hazard ratio = 0.73; 95% confidence interval: 0.65, 0.82) and (b) among women compared to men (hazard ratio = 0.50; 95% confidence interval: 0.44, 0.56). Lower hazard ratios were also observed among those with a higher body mass index, fewer comorbidities, and higher income.

A nationwide geriatric screening program might be helpful in reducing the incidence of premature deaths among older people.