Living arrangements and survival among middle-aged and older adults in the NHANES I epidemiologic follow-up study

M.A. Davis, J.M. Neuhaus, D.J. Moritz and M.R. Segal

American Journal of Public Health, 1992, vol. 82, issue 3, 401-406

Abstract: Background. There is concern about but little information on how living alone affects the health and survival of older adults. Methods. We examined the association between living arrangements (living alone, with a spouse, or with someone other than a spouse) and survival among 7651 adults, aged 45 to 74 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) (1971-1975) and traced at the NHANES I Follow-up Study (1982-1984), to see whether certain sociodemographic factors (race, education, income, and employment), health behaviors (alcohol, smoking, physical activity, and obesity), or chronic medical conditions were influential in the association. Results. We found a stronger association of living arrangements with survival for men than for women, and for middle-aged men than for older men. For men, those living alone and those living with someone other than a spouse were equally disadvantaged in terms of survival. Income, race, employment, and physical activity influenced the association of living arrangements and survival, but their impact varied by age, gender, and living arrangement. Conclusion. Living arrangements had a weak impact on survival among men, but had no effect among women.

Date: 1992
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:1992:82:3:401-406_2

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().