School of Management, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Center for Health Management and Policy Research, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2019 Jan 21;17(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s12955-019-1088-y.
China has the world's largest size of elderly population. Mental disorders of the elders deserve keen attention. This study aims to comparatively explore mental disorders and risk factors among empty and non-empty nesters.
Using the stratified random cluster sampling method, we recruited 8526 elders aged 60 years and above from 11 cities in Shanxi Province in central China, comprising 4901 empty and 3625 non-empty nesters. The mental disorders were assessed with the 12-item Chinese Health Questionnaire (CHQ-12). The binary logistic regression was performed to analyze the risk factors in the two groups.
The prevalence of mental disorders in empty nesters was significantly higher than that in non-empty ones (26.9% vs 23.5%). Binary logistic regression showed that the empty nesters who lived alone or lived in an institution were more likely to suffer from mental disorders compared with the non-empty ones, empty nesters living with spouse showed no significant deviation. And single status, hardly or part self-care ability, having chronic diseases, having lower income, and paying less attention to daily healthy diet had positive associations with mental disorders for empty nesters, and no or partial self-care ability and having chronic diseases for non-empty nesters.
The study indicated that empty nesters had a higher prevalence of mental disorders than non-empty ones. Empty nesters living alone, with no or partial self-care ability, chronic disease, lower income and less attention to daily healthy diet were more vulnerable to mental disorders. And the lack of self-care ability and having chronic diseases were risk factors of mental disorders for non-empty nesters.
中国拥有世界上最大的老年人口规模。老年人的精神障碍值得密切关注。本研究旨在比较探讨空巢和非空巢老人的精神障碍及相关危险因素。
采用分层随机整群抽样方法，在山西省 11 个城市招募了 8526 名 60 岁及以上的老年人，其中空巢老人 4901 名，非空巢老人 3625 名。采用 12 项中文版健康问卷（CHQ-12）评估精神障碍。采用二项逻辑回归分析两组的危险因素。
空巢老人的精神障碍患病率显著高于非空巢老人（26.9% vs 23.5%）。二项逻辑回归显示，与非空巢老人相比，独居或住养老院的空巢老人更容易患精神障碍，与配偶同住的空巢老人则无明显差异。单身、几乎或部分丧失自理能力、患有慢性病、收入较低以及较少关注日常健康饮食与空巢老人的精神障碍呈正相关，而几乎或部分丧失自理能力以及患有慢性病则与非空巢老人的精神障碍呈正相关。
本研究表明，空巢老人的精神障碍患病率高于非空巢老人。独居、几乎或部分丧失自理能力、患有慢性病、收入较低以及较少关注日常健康饮食的空巢老人更容易患精神障碍。而几乎或部分丧失自理能力以及患有慢性病则是非空巢老人精神障碍的危险因素。
