A Follow-up Study on the Health of Homeless Men and their Life Style Changes

Abstract

Objective : To study the life style of the homeless living along the riverside, to assess their physical and mental health status, and to clarify the changes in their health status.Subjects : 155 homeless living in tents along the Sumida-River.Methods : The initial survey was conducted from July through December 2000, asking about the personal traits, life style, physical health status, subjective symptoms and mental health status (The General Health Questionnaire : GHQ-28). The follow-up survey was conducted in October and November, 2002. The presence of each subject, as well as his health status were confirmed.Results : According to the initial survey, the GHQ total score distribution of 86 male subjects indicated two peaks : that of a lower score group (mean : 2.7), and of a higher score group (mean : 10.7) suggesting a mildly neurotic condition. A higher score group a greater more number of subjective symptoms than the lower score group (Mann-Whitney test, p < 0.001). A significant correlation was found between the GHQ scores and the number of subjective symptoms (Spearman's rank correlation : 0.51, p<0.001) . Logistic regression analysis revealed that odds ratio of the number of subjective symptoms for neurotic condition was 1.95 (95% Confidence Interval : 1.203-3.162).The follow-up study showed that 40% of the homeless men had left the riverside, and most of them due to health-related problems. Regarding the termination of living along the riverside, univariate analysis of logistic regression model revealed that odds ratio of the number having disease was 3.18 (95% Confidence Interval : 1.316-7.669), and odds ratio of GHQ total score was 1.15 (95% Confidence Interval : 1.028-1.297).Conclusion : The number of disease of the individual homeless and the aggravated mental health status were contributing factors to the termination of living along the riverside.