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THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, ALLOSTATIC LOAD AND MEASURES OF HEALTH IN OLDER TAIWANESE PERSONS: TAIWAN SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND BIOMARKERS OF AGING STUDY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2007

PEIFENG HU
Affiliation:
Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA
NAVEED WAGLE
Affiliation:
School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
NOREEN GOLDMAN
Affiliation:
Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
MAXINE WEINSTEIN§
Affiliation:
Center for Population and Health, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
TERESA E. SEEMAN
Affiliation:
Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Summary

Data from a national representative sample of 1023 elderly and near-elderly Taiwanese were used to explore whether allostatic load is associated with health outcomes and mediates the association between socioeconomic status and health in a non-Western population. The information collected included: demographic characteristics; allostatic load scores; socioeconomic status, measured by education and income; health behaviours; health-related variables, including self-rated health, basic activities of daily living difficulties, instrumental activities of daily living difficulties, and physical activity difficulties. The adjusted prevalent odds ratios of higher allostatic load level were 1·25 (95% CI: 1·00, 1·56) for reporting one level worse in self-rated health and 1·43 (95% CI: 1·14, 1·82) for reporting one more physical activity difficulty. There were significant associations of lower education or less income with worse self-rated health and more difficulties with physical functioning. The associations between education, income and health status are not mediated by the conventional ten-point measure of allostatic load in older Taiwanese adults.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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