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Determinants of Self-Rated Health Among Canadian Seniors Over Time: A Longitudinal Population-Based Study

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Abstract

Self-rated health has been found to be an effective and inexpensive measure of people’s overall health. Although cross-sectional studies have identified determinants of self-rated health (SRH), there is a limited insight into the determinants of SHR overtime and their impact on the change of SRH overtime. This present study compares determinants of SRH among a large community-dwelling cohort of Canadian seniors (N = 3255) at three points in time (1991, 1996, and 2001), and examines the effects of determinants on change in SRH over a 10-year period. Data analyzed were from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging—a large-scale longitudinal population-based study conducted between 1991 and 2001. The results showed that most seniors (over 80 %) rated their health as good, and their SRH remained surprisingly constant over time. Only a person’s physical and instrumental functioning and the number of chronic diseases were consistently associated with SRH at each point in time (1991, 1996, and 2001). Factors including cognition, daily functioning, chronic disease, and availability of help were significantly linked to self-rated health over time. These determinants should be considered important stimuli for improving health among seniors.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. Meng was supported by Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Strategic Training Postdoctoral Fellowship in Public Health and the Agricultural Rural Ecosystem (PHARE) and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Douglas Hospital Research Centre, McGill University, 6875 boulevard LaSalle, Montréal, H4H 1R3, Canada

    Xiangfei Meng

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Ellis Hall-Royal University Hospital, University of Saskatchewan, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, S7N 0W8, Canada

    Xiangfei Meng

  3. Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine and School of Public Health, Ellis Hall-Royal University Hospital, University of Saskatchewan, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, S7N 0W8, Canada

    Carl D’Arcy

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  1. Xiangfei Meng
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  2. Carl D’Arcy
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Correspondence to Xiangfei Meng.

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Meng, X., D’Arcy, C. Determinants of Self-Rated Health Among Canadian Seniors Over Time: A Longitudinal Population-Based Study. Soc Indic Res 126, 1343–1353 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-0941-6

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