Factors Related to Self-Rated Health Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

This study explored factors influencing self-rated health (SRH) among community-dwelling older adults to better support its use in health screening and provide an alternative for older adults who may have difficulty working with lengthy assessment scales.

The participants were 8379 individuals aged 65 years or older from the 2020 Elderly Survey. Data were collected in South Korea between September and November 2020. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and independent samples t-tests, a Kruskal-Wallis test, and weighted multiple regression analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS for Windows ver. 23.0. SRH factors, such as illness, daily living performance, nutritional status, depression, and cognitive impairment, were analyzed.

The greater the number of chronic conditions (β = -0.21, p < 0.001), the higher the dependence on activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living (β = -0.05, p = 0.002; β = -0.13, p < 0.001), the higher the depression score (β = -0.22, p < 0.001), the more severe the cognitive impairment (β = -0.04, p < 0.001), and the worse the SRH.

Participants with high-risk medical conditions, such as cancer, stroke, and depression, thought their health was poor. However, they did not consider hypertension, malnutrition, and abnormal BMI as significantly affecting their health status. Therefore, these factors should be considered when measuring SRH in older adults.