Gerontology & Geriatric Research

Abstract

Living Beyond the Life Expectancy: A Self-Rated Health Viewpoint

Paul Andrew Bourne, Ikhalfani Solan, Charlene Sharpe-Pryce, Jannine Campbell-Smith, Angela Hudson-Davis, Olive Watson-Coleman and Joan Rhule

Introduction: One of the drawbacks to using life expectancy to evaluate the health status of a country is the absence of capturing ‘healthy’ years and/or the quality of lived years. Self-rated health provides more information to the health discourse, which are not supplied by life expectancy.

Objectives: In the current study we seek to 1) determine the health conditions of people living beyond the life expectancy in Jamaica, 2) examine the health status of people living beyond the life expectancy in Jamaica, and 3) evaluate factors that influence good self-rated health status of people living beyond the life expectancy in Jamaica.

Methods: For this work, data from 2007 Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions was utilised. The sub-sample for this study was 321 men and women beyond 71 years and 74 years respectively. Findings: Fifty-one percent of the sample reported an illness (females, 51.9%; males, 50.0%); 3.6 times more females were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus than males and 1.3 times more females having hypertension than males. However, 2.7 times more males were diagnosed with arthritis than their female aged counterparts (χ2 = 25.844, P < 0.0001). A statistical relationship existed between self-reported illness and self-rated health status (χ2= 51.547, P < 0.0001).

Conclusion: The is enough empirical evidence to support gendered health and area-specific perspectives in the health care and management of people living beyond the life expectancy and that intervention programmes must be tailored with these new knowledge.