Table 2.
Baseline sociodemographic and health characteristics of the 85+ study participants
| Characteristic * | Males (319) %(n) |
Females (526) | All (845) | P value |
| Living status | ||||
| Alone in community | 39.5 (126) | 64.0 (336) | 54.7 (462) | <0.001 |
| Not alone in community | 54.2 (173) | 23.4 (123) | 35.1 (296) | |
| Institutional living | 6.3 (20) | 12.6 (66) | 10.2 (86) | |
| Self-rated health | ||||
| Excellent/very good | 43.9 (137) | 37.7 (193) | 40.1 (330) | 0.152 |
| Good | 36.5 (114) | 38.3 (196) | 37.6 (310) | |
| Fair/poor | 19.6 (61) | 24.0 (123) | 22.3 (184) | |
| Education | ||||
| 0–9 years | 62.3 (195) | 65.7 (339) | 64.4 (534) | 0.576 |
| 10–11 years | 24.6 (77) | 21.7 (112) | 22.8 (189) | |
| 12+ years | 13.1 (41) | 12.6 (65) | 12.8 (106) | |
| MMSE | ||||
| Normal (26–30) | 71.9 (228) | 71.1 (371) | 71.4 (599) | 0.113 |
| Mild (22–25) | 18.3 (58) | 14.8 (77) | 16.1 (135) | |
| Mod (18–21) | 3.5 (11) | 6.9 (36) | 5.6 (47) | |
| Severe (0–17) | 6.3 (20) | 7.3 (38) | 6.9 (58) | |
| GDS | ||||
| No depression | 79.7 (247) | 71.4 (360) | 74.6 (607) | 0.066 |
| Mild | 9.0 (28) | 13.9 (70) | 12.0 (98) | |
| Severe | 6.8 (21) | 8.5 (43) | 7.9 (64) | |
| MMSE<15 | 4.5 (14) | 6.2 (31) | 5.5 (45) | |
| Categorised disability | ||||
| None | 31.6 (100) | 16.3 (85) | 22.1 (185) | <0.001 |
| 1–6 | 52.4 (166) | 57.5 (300) | 55.5 (466) | |
| 7–12 | 11.7 (37) | 18.8 (98) | 16.1 (135) | |
| 13–17 | 4.4 (14) | 7.5 (39) | 6.3 (53) | |
| Disease groups† | ||||
| 0 | 6.6 (21) | 4.2 (22) | 5.1 (43) | 0.448 |
| 1 | 19.4 (62) | 21.5 (113) | 20.7 (175) | |
| 2–3 | 55.5 (177) | 55.7 (293) | 55.6 (470) | |
| 4+ | 18.5 (59) | 18.6 (98) | 18.6 (157) | |
*Data available at each time point for all characteristics except education.
†For diseases included, see table 1.
GDS Geriatric Depression Score; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination.