Factors Contributing to Poor Self-Rated Health in Older Adults with Lower Income

Lower household income is associated with poorer self-reported health status, especially in the elderly. Considering the importance of subjective health in this fragile population, it would be worthwhile to explore the physical and mental health factors that may help to predict good or poor self-rated health (SRH) status. We first described three main categories (individual, physical, and psychological) between low-income seniors with good and poor SRH. Next, statistically significant physical and mental health factors affecting poor SRH were identified. In this study, original data from the 2017 National Survey of Older Persons in South Korea were analyzed. People aged 65 years and over with low household income were eligible. A total of 1405 men and 2945 women (n = 4350) were enrolled, and less than half of participants (47.5%, n = 2066) belonged to the poor SRH cohort. We applied individual variable-adjusted models and found that poor SRH was significantly associated with ADL limitation (odds ratio (OR): 2.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.11-4.01), IADL limitation (OR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.52-2.13), malnutrition (OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.53-2.04), and depression (OR: 3.65, 95% CI: 3.10-4.31) on logistic regression analysis. Our findings suggest that limited ADL/IADL, poor nutrition, and depression need to be emphasized to improve subjective health status in low-income adults. Early recognition and timely intervention might help them to live better and happier, ultimately relieving social healthcare burdens.

Automated summary

The study found that the self-reported health status of low-income elderly individuals is associated with activities of daily living, nutrition, and mental health. Early identification and intervention may help improve the subjective health status of low-income adults and reduce social healthcare burdens.