Erciyes University Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Education, Kayseri-Turkey This study was carried out in order to determine the effects of some demographic, social, and medical factors on the self-rated health condition among the elders in Kayseri province of Turkey.
The study was performed on a sample group of 432 people who are in 65 and over age group in Kayseri, Turkey. A questionnaire containing 16 questions was applied through face to face interviewing method. The older people were asked to rate their own health condition into five categories as “very good, good, fair, bad and very bad”. For the statistical analysis, “good and very good” ratings were classified as “good” and the others as “poor”. The effects of the independent variables were analysed by logistic regression method.
Only 2.1 percent of the study group was rated their general health condition as very good, 25.0 percent as good, 41.2 percent as fair, 28.5 percent as bad and 3.2 percent as very bad. Totally 72.9 percent of the study group rated their health as poor. The effects of sex, residence area, self-rated economic level, BMI and number of medical complaints on poor rating of health condition were found statistically significant.
It was concluded that sex, residence area, economic level, BMI, and the number of medical complaints were found as significant determinants of self-rating health condition of the older people in Kayseri, Turkey.
Keywords : Older people, self-rated health, social factors, demographic factors