“In the mood for ageing”: determinants of subjective well-being in older men and women of the population-based KORA-Age study

BMC Geriatrics

Nina Weiland¹  Karl-Heinz Ladwig¹  Karoline Lukaschek¹  Hamimatunnisa Johar¹  Anushiya Vanajan¹ 

[1] Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health;

关键词: Subjective well-being;    Mental health;    Age-paradox;    Population-based study;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-017-0513-5

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Background To investigate risk factors associated with low subjective well-being (SWB) in men and women (≥65 years) separately with a special focus on emotional distress. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted among 3602 participants (50.6% women) aged 65-90 years (mean age 72.8 years, SD ± 5.8) from the population-based KORA-Age study conducted in 2008/2009. SWB was assessed using the WHO-5 well-being index (score range: 0 to 100). SWB was dichotomized into “low” (score ≤ 50) and “high” (score > 50) SWB. The association between potential risk factors and SWB was assessed by logistic regressions analyses. Population-attributable risks (PARs) were calculated. Results Low SWB was significantly higher in women than in men (23.8% versus 18.2%; p < 0.0001). The logistic regressions analyses revealed low income, physical inactivity, multimorbidity, depression, anxiety and sleeping problems to be associated with low SWB in both sexes. Living alone increased the odds of having low SWB in women, but not in men. Depression and anxiety were the strongest risk factors of low SWB among men (depression: OR: 4.19, 95% CI: 1.33-13.17, p < 0.05; anxiety: 8.45, 5.14-13.87, p < 0.0001) and women (depression: 6.83, 2.49-18.75 p < 0.05; anxiety: 7.31, 5.14-10.39, p < 0.0001). In both sexes, anxiety had the highest population-attributable risk (men: 27%, women: 41%). Conclusion Our results call out for an increased focus on mental health interventions among older adults, especially for women living alone. Further research is needed to understand the paradoxical pattern of discrepant subjective well-being versus objective health in age.

【 授权许可】

Unknown