Table 2. Self-rated health in 2000 of the sample of spouse care-givers by socio-demographic and diagnosed health characteristics and hours of care, and decline in health from 2000 to 2002.

	Care-giving hours per week
	0		<14		≥14
Variable	N	%	N	%	N	%	p
Health decline (2000–2002)1	927	10.6	63	17.3	57	15.3	<0.001
Age group (years)							<0.001
<65	4,391	60.8	144	45.0	100	33.1
65–74	2,508	27.5	116	30.1	108	35.0
≥75	1,015	11.7	92	24.9	97	31.9
Gender							<0.001
Men	3,984	53.9	162	45.1	139	49.2
Women	3,930	46.1	190	54.9	166	50.8
Race							<0.001
White	7,070	92.1	292	87.8	248	86.7
Black	614	4.9	49	9.2	46	10.1
Other	219	2.9	11	3.1	11	3.3
Education (years)							<0.001
<12	1,399	15.3	93	23.9	105	32.9
12	2,790	34.5	128	35.9	112	37.9
≥12	3,695	50.2	130	40.3	88	29.2
Net worth US$ (quartile)							<0.001
≤42,900	1,872	22.2	130	32.3	145	45.9
42,901–129,000	1,949	24.2	90	29.4	90	31.6
129,001–310,900	2,038	26.4	78	21.6	37	10.5
≥310,901	2,055	27.2	54	16.7	33	12.1
Health-related behaviours
Smokes cigarettes now	1,998	12.9	43	12.2	33	9.4	0.3
Drinks alcohol	2,828	38.5	77	20.9	61	19.7	<0.001
Takes vigorous exercise	4,274	54.5	176	51.4	138	46.2	0.03
Body Mass Index							0.4
<18.5	45	0.6	5	0.9	6	1.9
18.5–24.9	2,589	32.7	104	32.8	99	33.9
25.0–29.9	3,380	43.8	151	42.3	130	40.5
≥30.0	1,794	22.9	86	24.0
Health condition
High blood pressure	3,356	40.6	155	42.3	143	47.0	0.07
Diabetes	813	9.4	37	8.9	35	9.7	0.9
Lung disease	388	4.7	11	3.1	22	8.0	0.03
Heart disease	1,186	14.0	64	16.5	69	23.1	<0.001
Cancer	752	9.2	38	9.7	35	10.8	0.6
Stroke	257	3.0	14	3.8	17	5.5	0.03
Psychiatric problem	682	8.1	33	9.2	28	8.6	0.7
Incontinence	1,051	12.5	60	18.8	47	15.4	0.005
Dementia	212	2.3	23	4.8	18	4.4	<0.001
Spouse’s Nagi function							<0.001
0	3,519	45.6	27	7.8	24	8.6
1–3	3,232	40.3	107	30.6	06	34.5
4–6	998	12.4	155	44.4	12	36.6
7–9	165	1.8	63	17.3	63	20.3
Sample size	7,914		352		305

Notes: The data source was the 2000 and 2002 Health and Retirement Study. The total sample size was 8,571. Data were weighted and adjusted for the complex sampling design. The significance levels were obtained with a design-based Pearson chi-squared test.

¹Health status declined from ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ in 2000 to ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ in 2002.