Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2006, 210(1)

Determinants of Self-Rated Health among Community-Dwelling Women Aged 40 Years and over in Japan

MITSUO KANAGAE,^1,2 YASUYO ABE,¹ SUMIHISA HONDA,³ NOBORU TAKAMURA,¹ YOSUKE KUSANO,⁴ TAI-ICHIRO TAKEMOTO⁵ and KIYOSHI AOYAGI¹

¹Department of Public Health, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan, ²Rehabilitation Unit, Nishi-Isahaya Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan, ³Department of Radiation Epidemiology, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan, ⁴Human Service and Community Development, Nagasaki Wesleyan University, Nagasaki, Japan, and ⁵Department of Health and Nutrition, Nagasaki International University, Faculty of Health Management, Nagasaki, Japan

In developed countries, the elderly population is growing rapidly. Self-rated health is an important indicator of health and has been the focus of a number of aging studies. However, little is known about the possible differences in determinants of self-rated health according to age. Self-rated health and its possible determinants were examined in 542 community-dwelling Japanese women aged 40 to 91 years. The proportion of women with poor self-rated health increased with age. Approximately half of the women had poor self-rated health among women aged 80 years and over. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to examine the association with poor self-rated health in women aged 40 to 64 years (n = 248) and 65 years and over (n = 294). Lower physical activity and a greater number of comorbidities were associated with poor self-rated health for ages 40 to 64 and 65 years and over. Furthermore, the risk of poor self-rated health increased by 1.5-fold with every increase in the number of painful joints in the lower extremities for the 40- to 64-year-old age group, and increased by 2-fold with back pain for those 65 years and over. The determinants of self-rated health were similar in both middle-aged and elderly Japanese women. Our results could contribute to effective interventions to improve quality of life among Japanese women.

keywords —— self-rated health; physical activity; comorbidity; muscle strength; musculoskeletal pain

© 2006 Tohoku University Medical Press

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2006, 210, 11-19

Correspondence: Yasuyo Abe, M.D., Department of Public Health, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.

e-mail: yasuyo-a@net.nagasaki-u.ac.jp