Health Care Behavior of People 60 Years and Older in Korea According to Family Type and Sociodemographic Factors - The 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Tak, Young Jin; Kim, Yun Jin; Lee, Sang Yeoup; Lee, Jeong Gyu; Jung, Dong Wook; Yi, Yu Hyeon; Cho, Young Hye; Choi, Eun Jung; Nam, Kyung Jee

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This study evaluated the effects of family type and sociodemographic factors on medical treatment, health behavior, and subjective health status in Koreans 60 years and older.
METHODS
This study was based on data from the 5th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), a nationwide health interview survey using a rolling sampling design involving complex, stratified, multistage, probability cluster. Our subjects included those > or =60 years of age (n=1,946) participating in the KNHANES 2010. Family type was categorized into 7 groups according to cohabitation: alone, couple cohabitation (living with a spouse), parent(s) cohabitation (couple living with parent(s)), offspring cohabitation (no spouse, living with offspring), couple offspring cohabitation (couple living with offspring), couple offspring parents cohabitation (couple living with parent(s) and offspring), and others. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association of family type and sociodemographic factors with health care.
RESULTS
The most common family type was couple cohabitation (38.26+/-1.8%). In this group, the percentage of non-receipt of needed medical care (odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.42 to 0.87) and current smoking rate (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.50) were significantly lower than those living alone. Among the sociodemographic charicteristics, male gender, apartment dwelling, high middle household income, 2 member family, education higher than middle school, and possessing own house were associated with good health care behavior.
CONCLUSION
This study shows that couples have better health care behavior than other family types, in particular, limited smoking, appropriate medical treatment, and positive subjective health status. Those living alone visit medical clinics less often and have a negative subjective health status.