Assessment of factors affecting self-rated health among elderly people in Southwest Nigeria.

Context: Self-rated health (SRH) is a subjective measure of health considered valid to predict mortality among the elderly. With the rapid increase of older people living in Nigeria and the lack of adequate social security, it is important to identify factors affecting their SRH. Social support has also taken on added importance among the elderly in view of scarce resources.

Objective: To determine the level of satisfaction with the forms of social support received by the elderly and the factors associated with their SRH.

Settings And Design: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study design among the elderly in Southwest Nigeria.

Subjects And Methods: A multistage sampling technique was employed to select 360 elderly respondents for the study. A standardised questionnaire, Short Form Health Survey-36 was interviewer administered. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20. Significant associations between categorical variables were evaluated using Chi-square (χ) test. Multiple regression test and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were employed to assess the relationship of the various predictors of SRH. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05.

Results: The mean age of the 360 elderly respondents was 73 ± 9.3 years, 60.3% were female and 43.9% were widowed. Almost all (91.9%) the respondents received emotional while domestic support was the least in 50.3%. About 30.0% of the elderly self-rated their health as poor. The predictors of good SRH after multiple logistic regression included being married (OR = 1.84, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-3.33, P = 0.04); engagement in work (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.11-4.63, P = 0.02); the absence of morbid conditions (OR = 12.6, 95% CI: 2.86-55.4, P = 0.001) and higher levels of education (OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.19-0.91, P = 0.03).

Conclusions: About one-third of the elderly had poor SRH. Targeted interventions such as creating employment fit for the elderly and improving healthcare access is recommended.