Table 1.

Characteristics of the elderly population according to their perception regarding their physical health

		% of respondents	Self assessment of health		N
			Good health	Poor health
Age group***	60-69 years	53.0	52.3	47.7	16,131
	70-79 years	34.0	37.1	62.9	10,355
	80 years or +	13.0	27.0	73.0	3,941
Sex***	Male	43.0	49.2	50.8	13,088
	Female	57.0	39.8	60.2	17,339
Place of residence**	Rural	57.7	44.7	55.3	17,558
	Urban	42.3	42.7	57.3	12,869
Level of education ***	Higher than secondary level	4.1	68.1	31.9	1,246
	Secondary level	7.2	56.0	44.0	2,192
	Primary/elementary level	72.1	43.4	56.6	21,949
	No schooling	16.6	34.8	65.2	5,040
Marital status***	Married	59.3	48.3	51.7	18,050
	Separated/divorced	2.5	41.6	58.4	747
	Widowed	34.6	36.7	63.3	10,534
	Single	3.6	41.6	58.4	1,096
Working status during the past 7 days ***	Work	65.4	57.2	42.8	10,523
	Do not work	34.6	36.8	63.2	19,904
Average total income per year ***	100,000 Baht or more	16.0	55.8	44.2	4,867
	30,000-99,999 Baht	33.4	48.4	51.6	10,148
	10,000-29,999 Baht	34.2	40.3	59.7	10,391
	Less than 10,000 Baht	16.4	30.4	69.6	4,995
Living arrangement ***	Living with children	17.7	44.6	55.4	5,393
	Spouse	16.3	48.2	51.8	4,966
	Alone	8.4	42.4	57.6	2,568
	Other	57.5	42.6	57.4	17,500
Number of chronic diseases ***	No	56.1	53.3	46.7	17,073
	1 disease	29.2	35.5	64.5	8,885
	2 diseases	11.5	26.8	73.2	3,506
	3 or more diseases	3.2	16.0	84.0	963
Functional status ***	Able to do all ADLs	61.8	55.3	44.7	18,805
	Difficulty in 1 and 2 ADLs	18.1	34.5	65.5	5,522
	Difficulty in 3 or more ADLs	20.0	17.2	82.8	6,100
Psychosocial symptoms ***	No symptom	31.3	59.5	40.5	9,513
	1-2 symptoms	29.5	44.0	56.0	8,991
	3-4 symptoms	20.7	35.1	64.9	6,298
	5 or more symptoms	18.5	27.0	73.0	5,625
	Total	100.0	43.9	56.1	30,427

• Note: *** = p < .001, ** = p < .01, * = p < .05; 1$: Baht 33.00