A Comparative Study on the Health Status of Urban and Rural Elderly - Pusan, Kyeungnam Area

일부 도시.농촌노인의 건강 상태 비교연구 -부산.경남지역을 중심으로-

This study was conducted to investigate and to compare the health status of urban and rural elderly in Korea using the following factors: 1) the number of self-reported health problems 2) a self-rating score for health status 3) the number of diagnosed diseases 4) ADL, social health status by IADL and the psychological health status by Life Satisfaction scale developed by Wood and others. The study subjects were the elderly who lived in Pusan(N=150) as an urban area and Kyeungnam(N=300) province as a rural area. The study subjects were sampled at random and the data were collected by trained interviewers from Feb. 1 to Feb. 14, 1995. the data was analyzed in SPSS. The results can be summarized as follows : 1. According to the sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects, the urban elderly group was significantly higher in extended family groups and in practicing regular execise than the rural elderly: and the rural elderly group was higher in having spouses and occupations than the urban group. 2. Concerning health status, the numbers of self-reported health problems(eye problems, back pains, headaches, dental problems, arthritis) and number of diagnosed diseases(hypertension, heart problems, diabetes mellitus, neuralgia, arthritis) were significantly were higher higher in rural areas: the self - rating scores for health status and life satisfaction were higher urban areas. ADL and IADL were similar in both the rural and urban elderly. 3. The correlations were the following: Self-reported health problems and self-rating for health status were significantly correlated negatively(r=-.039, p=.000), but self-reported health problems and the number of diagnosed diseases were significantly positively correlated(r=0. 30, p=.000). IADL and health problems were negatively correlated(r=-0.16, p=.000), but IADL and ADL were significantly positively correlated (r=0.49, p=.000). Life satisfaction and self-rating scores for health status were significantly positively correlated(r=0.26, p=.000).