Determinants of self-rated health among elderly patients with hypertension: a cross-sectional analysis based on the Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey

ABSTRACT

Background

The total number of elderly patients with hypertension in China has been increasing year by year, it is necessary to adopt simple and valid measures to evaluate the health status of elderly patients with hypertension to reduce the heavy burden faced by this group.

Method

This study is a cross-sectional analysis. Participants aged at least 65 years were included. Self-Rated Health (SRH) assessment of respondents was classified into two groups: participants who responded as “very good” and “good” were considered as having good SRH, and participants who answered as “average,” “poor,” and “very poor” were considered as having poor SRH. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences in patient characteristics between the two groups. Binary logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with SRH.

Results

The results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that having a spouse, better economic status, exercise, eating fruits and vegetables, nighttime sleep of 7 to 9 hours, good living environment, interaction with friends, and hypertension with comorbidity such as diabetes mellitus, heart disease, stroke or hyperlipidemia were influencing factors of SRH (P < .05). Another finding was that alcohol use significantly affected SRH (P < .05). Depression, anxiety, and community nursing services did not figure as determinants of health in this group.

Conclusion

The findings of this study provide evidence for the need to develop effective health promotion programs for the well-being of hypertensive patients.

KEYWORDS:

• CLHLS
• elderly patients
• environment
• human
• hypertension
• nursing
• self-rated health

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the hard and dedicated work of all the staff that implemented the intervention and evaluation components of the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Abbreviations

SRH	=	Self-Rated Health
CLHLS	=	Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was conducted with approval from the Ethics Committee of University of South China (No: N2021121–08). This study was conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from Science and technology innovation project of Hunan Province (2020SK51810), and project of education department of Hunan Province (19A426).