Table 4.

Linear regression model for factors associated with psychological distress by age group

	Psychological distress (GHQ-12)
	18–64 years			65 years or over
	b	95% CI	p-value	b	95% CI	p-value
Age	-0.03	(-0.07, 0.02)	0.204	0.08	(-0.02, 0.19)	0.105
Sex (ref: male)
female	0.13	(-0.71, 0.96)	0.770	0.22	(-0.76, 1.20)	0.657
Education (ref: primary or less)
secondary	-0.20	(-1.37, 0.98)	0.744	0.59	(-0.48, 1.67)	0.280
tertiary	-0.10	(-1.41, 1.21)	0.880	0.36	(-1.05, 1.77)	0.613
Self-reported financial status (ref: good/very good)
satisfactory	0.32	(-0.49, 1.14)	0.436	1.18	(0.18, 2.18)	0.021
bad/very bad	2.12	(0.00, 4.25)	0.050	3.66	(1.18, 6.13)	0.004
Marital status (ref: married)
widow	1.61	(-0.91, 4.12)	0.211	0.07	(-1.16, 1.30)	0.908
other	0.20	(-0.81, 1.20)	0.702	-0.84	(-2.31, 0.64)	0.265
Social support (OSSS-3) (ref: poor)
moderate	-0.43	(-1.56, 0.7)	0.454	-0.72	(-2.23, 0.80)	0.355
strong	-1.24	(-2.58, 0.1)	0.070	-1.79	(-3.32, -0.26)	0.022
Support in personal matter (ref: yes)
no	1.91	(-0.51, 4.34)	0.122	3.64	(0.93, 6.36)	0.008
Number of chronic diseases (ref: < 2)
2 or more	1.74	(0.63, 2.85)	0.002	0.60	(-0.47, 1.67)	0.272
Sense of control over health (ref: less/nothing)
lot/very lot	-0.94	(-2.42, 0.54)	0.212	-2.38	(-4.02, -0.73)	0.005
Limitations in daily activities (ref: no)
yes	0.83	(-0.47, 2.13)	0.210	1.65	(0.67, 2.63)	0.001
Pain (ref.no)
very mild/mild/moderate	1.17	(0.18, 2.16)	0.020	-0.06	(-1.22, 1.09)	0.913
severe/extreme severe	4.53	(1.57, 7.50)	0.003	2.21	(0.11, 4.31)	0.039
Smoking (ref: never smoked)
yes	0.10	(-0.80, 1.01)	0.821	-0.35	(-1.59, 0.88)	0.576
former	-0.48	(-1.82, 0.86)	0.480	-1.40	(-2.51, -0.28)	0.015

Statistically significant results (p < 0.05) are shown in bold. OSSS-3, Oslo Social Support Scale; GHQ-12, 12-item General Health Questionnaire; b, linear regression coefficient; CI, confidence interval