Table 1.
Sociodemographic characteristics of community-dwelling elderly (n = 558) living in rental blocks and owner-occupied blocks in two integrated public housing precincts in Singapore
| Characteristic | Precinct A (n = 235) |
p valuea | Precinct B (n = 323) |
p valuea | Total (n = 558) |
p valuea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| owner-occupied (n = 107) | rental (n = 128) | owner-occupied (n = 54) | rental (n=269) | owner-occupied (n = 161) | rental (n = 397) | ||||
| Demographics | |||||||||
| Age | |||||||||
| 60–70 years | 59 (55.1) | 56 (43.8) | 0.090 | 25 (46.3) | 123 (45.7) | 1.000 | 84 (52.2) | 179 (45.1) | 0.135 |
| ≥71 years | 48 (44.9) | 72 (56.2) | 29 (53.7) | 146 (54.3) | 77 (47.8) | 218 (54.9) | |||
| Gender | |||||||||
| Male | 40 (37.4) | 51 (39.8) | 0.788 | 21 (38.9) | 138 (51.3) | 0.103 | 61 (37.9) | 189 (47.6) | 0.039 |
| Female | 67 (62.6) | 77 (60.2) | 33 (61.1) | 131 (48.7) | 100 (62.1) | 208 (52.4) | |||
| Marital status | |||||||||
| Not currently married | 44 (41.1) | 71 (55.5) | 0.036 | 19 (35.2) | 139 (51.7) | 63 (39.1) | 210 (52.9) | 0.004 | |
| Currently married | 63 (58.9) | 57 (44.5) | 35 (64.8) | 130 (48.3) | 0.036 | 98 (60.9) | 187 (47.1) | ||
| Ethnicity | |||||||||
| Malay | 26 (24.3) | 45 (35.2) | Referent | 7 (13.0) | 64 (23.8) | Referent | 33 (20.5) | 109 (27.5) | Referent |
| Chinese | 67 (62.6) | 64 (50.0) | 0.270 | 37 (68.5) | 183 (68.0) | 0.155 | 104 (64.6) | 247 (62.2) | 0.175 |
| Indian | 8 (7.5) | 15 (11.7) | 0.560 | 9 (16.7) | 20 (7.4) | 0.059 | 17 (10.6) | 35 (8.8) | 0.397 |
| Other | 6 (5.6) | 4 (3.1) | 0.842 | 1 (1.9) | 2 (0.7) | 0.337 | 7 (4.3) | 6 (1.5) | 0.209 |
| Highest educational attainment | |||||||||
| No formal education | 34 (31.8) | 66 (51.6) | Referent | 9 (16.7) | 97 (36.1) | Referent | 43 (26.7) | 163 (41.1) | Referent |
| Primary education | 50 (46.7) | 41 (32.0) | 0.006 | 18 (33.3) | 113 (42.0) | 0.324 | 68 (42.2) | 154 (38.8) | 0.054 |
| Secondary or higher education | 23 (21.5) | 21 (16.4) | 0.052 | 27 (50.0) | 59 (21.9) | 0.007 | 50 (31.1) | 80 (20.2) | 0.019 |
| Socioeconomic indicators | |||||||||
| Currently employed | 33 (30.8) | 29 (22.7) | 0.182 | 9 (16.7) | 80 (29.7) | 0.065 | 42 (26.1) | 109 (27.5) | 0.833 |
| Car ownership (yes) | 4 (3.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0.042 | 6 (11.1) | 14 (5.2) | 0.119 | 10 (6.2) | 14 (3.5) | 0.170 |
| Monthly household income | |||||||||
| <500 SGD | 19 (19.0) | 58 (46.0) | Referent | 11 (20.4) | 107 (40.4) | Referent | 30 (19.5) | 165 (42.2) | Referent |
| ≥500, <1,000 SGD | 30 (30.0) | 37 (29.4) | 0.023 | 15 (27.8) | 83 (31.3) | 0.265 | 45 (29.2) | 120 (30.7) | 0.012 |
| ≥1,000 SGD | 51 (51.0) | 31 (24.6) | <0.001 | 28 (51.9) | 75 (28.3) | 0.009 | 79 (51.3) | 106 (27.1) | <0.001 |
| On financial aid | 18 (16.8) | 30 (23.4) | 0.256 | 1 (1.9) | 49 (18.2) | 0.001 | 19 (11.8) | 79 (19.9) | 0.027 |
| Geriatric history | |||||||||
| History of falls | |||||||||
| ≥1 fall in past year | 26 (24.3) | 30 (23.4) | 0.879 | 9 (16.7) | 59 (21.9) | 0.467 | 35 (21.7) | 89 (22.4) | 0.911 |
| General health | |||||||||
| Visual impairment | 8 (7.5) | 21 (16.4) | 0.046 | 6 (11.1) | 42 (15.6) | 0.530 | 14 (8.7) | 63 (15.9) | 0.030 |
| Hearing impairment | 6 (5.6) | 11 (8.6) | 0.454 | 4 (7.4) | 26 (9.7) | 0.798 | 10 (6.2) | 37 (9.3) | 0.312 |
| Systolic blood pressureb | 138.2 ± 18.5 | 137.9 ± 16.7 | 0.897 | 131.4 ± 13.4 | 139.6 ± 20.4 | <0.001 | 136.0 ± 17.3) | 139.1 ± 19.3 | 0.066 |
| Diastolic blood pressureb | 81.8 ± 10.9 | 81.6 ± 12.4 | 0.884 | 81.5 ± 8.62 | 80.6 ± 12.8 | 0.535 | 81.7 ± 10.1) | 81.0 ± 12.6 | 0.454 |
| Underweight (BMI <18.5) | 10 (9.6) | 6 (4.9) | 0.199 | 1 (2.0) | 29 (11.2) | 0.039 | 11 (7.1) | 35 (9.2) | 0.499 |
| Overweight (BMI ≤23) | 65 (62.5) | 71 (58.2) | 0.586 | 20 (39.2) | 135 (52.3) | 0.094 | 85 (54.8) | 206 (54.2) | 0.924 |
| Depressionc | 16 (15.0) | 33 (25.8) | 0.053 | 8 (14.8) | 71 (26.4) | 0.083 | 24 (14.9) | 104 (26.2) | 0.004 |
| Functional history | |||||||||
| iADL (Lawton-Brody iADL scale <8) | 19 (17.8) | 27 (21.1) | 0.621 | 3 (5.6) | 37 (13.8) | 0.114 | 22 (13.7) | 64 (16.1) | 0.519 |
| Basic ADL (Barthel Index <100) | 13 (12.1) | 21 (16.4) | 0.457 | 3 (5.6) | 51 (94.4) | 0.591 | 16 (9.9) | 44 (11.1) | 0.764 |
| Medical history | |||||||||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index > 0 | 36 (33.6) | 54 (42.2) | 0.225 | 23 (42.6) | 101 (37.5) | 0.540 | 59 (36.6) | 155 (39.0) | 0.632 |
| Ischemic heart disease | 7 (6.5) | 17 (13.3) | 0.129 | 2 (3.7) | 18 (6.7) | 0.546 | 9 (5.6) | 35 (8.8) | 0.228 |
| Diabetes | 23 (21.5) | 28 (21.9) | 1.000 | 15 (27.8) | 58 (21.6) | 0.372 | 38 (23.6) | 86 (21.7) | 0.653 |
| Hypertension | 56 (52.3) | 44 (34.4) | 0.008 | 23 (42.6) | 121 (45.0) | 0.767 | 79 (49.1) | 165 (41.6) | 0.110 |
| Hyperlipidemia | 38 (35.5) | 20 (15.6) | <0.001 | 17 (31.5) | 69 (25.7) | 0.400 | 55 (34.2) | 89 (22.4) | 0.005 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 3 (2.8) | 8 (6.2) | 0.234 | 3 (5.6) | 17 (6.3) | 1.000 | 6 (3.7) | 25 (6.3) | 0.308 |
| Social history | |||||||||
| Living arrangements | |||||||||
| Living with family | 83 (77.6) | 83 (64.8) | Referent | 42 (77.8) | 163 (60.6) | Referent | 125 (77.6) | 246 (62.0) | Referent |
| Living with others | 10 (9.3) | 14 (10.9) | 0.431 | 1 (1.9) | 47 (17.5) | 0.015 | 11 (6.8) | 61 (15.4) | 0.003 |
| Living alone | 14 (13.1) | 31 (24.2) | 0.024 | 11 (20.4) | 59 (21.9) | 0.383 | 25 (15.5) | 90 (22.7) | 0.015 |
| No. of people in household | |||||||||
| <3 | 52 (48.6) | 90 (70.3) | 0.001 | 29 (53.7) | 198 (73.6) | 0.005 | 81 (50.3) | 288 (72.5) | <0.001 |
| ≥3 | 55 (51.4) | 38 (29.7) | 25 (46.3) | 71 (26.4) | 80 (49.7) | 109 (27.5) | |||
| Social support | |||||||||
| Poorer social support (LSNS-6 ≤12) | 65 (60.7) | 98 (76.6) | 18 (33.3) | 179 (66.5) | 83 (51.6) | 277 (69.8) | |||
| Better social support (LSNS-6 > 12) | 42 (39.3) | 30 (23.4) | 0.011 | 36 (66.7) | 90 (33.5) | <0.001 | 78 (48.4) | 120 (30.2) | <0.001 |
| Has family as caregiver | |||||||||
| No | 24 (22.4) | 47 (36.7) | 13 (24.1) | 107 (39.8) | 37 (23.0) | 154 (38.8) | |||
| Yes | 83 (77.6) | 81 (63.3) | 0.022 | 41 (75.9) | 162 (60.2) | 0.031 | 124 (77.0) | 243 (61.2) | <0.001 |
| MMSE score | 25.73 ± 4.75 | 25.05 ± 4.16 | 0.242 | 26.56 ± 3.30 | 25.71 ± 4.23 | 0.107 | 26.01 ± 4.32 | 25.50 ± 4.22 | 0.202 |
| MMSE score <24 | 18 (16.8) | 41 (32.0) | 0.010 | 8 (14.8) | 63 (23.4) | 0.208 | 26 (16.1) | 104 (26.2) | 0.011 |
Values are numbers with percentages in parentheses or means ± SD. LSNS-6 = Lubbens Social Network Scale-6.
a
Computed using χ2 test.
b
Computed using t test.
c
Depression defined as Geriatric Depression Scale-15 ≥5 at baseline or history of doctor-diagnosed depression.