Abstract
In America and some of European countries, many studies suggest that there is a relationship between subjective health and mortality of the elderly people. It is known that there are many of directly and indirectly effects in this relationship, but the detailed nature of this relationship is still unknown. So therefore, this present study examined the relationship among subjective health and mortality in some of rural areas in Japan.
In this study, respondents consists of 19, 636 Japanese elderly people who aged over 60 in 1998. The baseline survey was conducted in 1998 and their survival status was ascertained during the subsequent 2 years. Within the follow-up period, 447 (2.3%) of the 19, 636 respondents have died.
In results of analysis, using of the Cox's proportional hazards models, controlling for age degree, number of diseases, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), a significantly higher mortality risk was found among men with a lower level of subjective health (poor, very poor) (relative hazard=1.69: 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.02 to 2.82, 3.45 : 2.25 to 5.30, respectively), a significantly higher mortality risk was found among women with a lower level of subjective health (very poor) (relative hazard=2.38: 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.34 to 4.22) .
The data suggested that high level of subjective health may be important of decreasing the risk of death for both men and women.
Finally, future research is needed to detail the risk factors and processes that result in subjective health. The implication from those findings for the implementation of health promotion program would be raised, and the limitation of this inference would also be discussed.
