Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of study populations aged 60-79 years. National Health Interview and Examination Surveys GNHIES98 (1997–99) and DEGS1 (2008–11)
| GNHIES98a (N = 1606) | DEGS1a (N = 2501) | P value | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | 95% C | n | % | 95% CI | ||||
| Sex | |||||||||
| Men | 727 | 47.0 | 44.7 | 49.3 | 1227 | 46.9 | 44.5 | 49.3 | .962 |
| Women | 879 | 53.0 | 50.7 | 55.3 | 1274 | 53.1 | 50.7 | 55.5 | |
| Age groups | |||||||||
| 60–69 years | 1031 | 52.5 | 49.9 | 55.1 | 1393 | 52.6 | 50.6 | 54.5 | .970 |
| 70–79 years | 575 | 47.5 | 44.9 | 50.1 | 1108 | 47.4 | 45.5 | 49.4 | |
| Living alone | |||||||||
| Yes | 355 | 24.2 | 21.0 | 27.7 | 506 | 21.3 | 19.2 | 23.6 | .084 |
| No | 1174 | 75.8 | 72.3 | 79.0 | 1983 | 78.7 | 76.4 | 80.8 | |
| Urbanityb | |||||||||
| Rural | 382 | 19.9 | 13.2 | 29.0 | 428 | 16.3 | 11.0 | 23.6 | .113 |
| Small city | 333 | 18.9 | 12.4 | 27.8 | 586 | 25.6 | 19.0 | 33.6 | |
| Medium sized city | 406 | 28.1 | 20.0 | 37.9 | 733 | 27.8 | 21.2 | 35.6 | |
| Large city | 485 | 33.1 | 24.1 | 43.4 | 754 | 30.2 | 23.3 | 38.2 | |
| Region of residencec | |||||||||
| Northern Germany | 375 | 26.0 | 18.0 | 35.9 | 641 | 25.6 | 19.1 | 33.5 | .979 |
| Central Germany | 781 | 40.7 | 31.5 | 50.7 | 1137 | 41.4 | 33.6 | 49.6 | |
| Southern Germany | 450 | 33.3 | 24.3 | 43.7 | 723 | 33.0 | 25.7 | 41.2 | |
| Social status | |||||||||
| Lower | 374 | 26.1 | 22.8 | 29.6 | 436 | 24.1 | 21.2 | 27.3 | .393 |
| Middle | 935 | 59.1 | 55.8 | 62.4 | 1489 | 59.3 | 56.3 | 62.3 | |
| Upper | 233 | 14.8 | 12.1 | 17.9 | 562 | 16.5 | 14.6 | 18.7 | |
| Officially certified disability | |||||||||
| Yes | 371 | 26.0 | 23.3 | 29.0 | 647 | 29.1 | 26.4 | 31.9 | .079 |
| No | 1168 | 74.0 | 71.0 | 76.7 | 1797 | 70.9 | 68.1 | 73.6 | |
| Self-assed health status | |||||||||
| Better | 781 | 47.8 | 44.4 | 51.1 | 1498 | 58.1 | 55.5 | 60.7 | <.0001 |
| Worse | 825 | 52.2 | 48.9 | 55.6 | 985 | 41.9 | 39.3 | 44.5 | |
| Polypharmacyd | |||||||||
| Yes | 466 | 30.0 | 27.1 | 33.0 | 993 | 38.8 | 36.5 | 41.2 | <.0001 |
| No | 1140 | 70.0 | 67.0 | 72.9 | 1508 | 61.2 | 58.8 | 63.5 | |
a Standardized to the population of 1.12.2010
b Urbanity: Rural (<5000 residents), small city (5000 - <20.000), medium sized city (20.000 - <100.000), large city (100.000 and more residents)
c Regions: Northern Germany (federal states: Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein), Central Germany (Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia), Southern Germany (Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland)
d Polypharmacy: Use of five or more different prescribed and OTC drugs (excluding psychotropics) in the last seven days
Missing values: Living alone (GNHIES98 n = 77, DEGS1 n = 12), social status (64, 14), officially certified disability (67, 57), self-assed health status (0, 18)
Figures in bold denote statistical significance