影響老年人身心健康之相關因素探討

The Related Factors Affecting Physical and Mental Health of Older People

隨著人口老化增加，老年人身心健康日益受到重視，本研究目的旨在探討社區老年人罹患疾病、跌倒、憂鬱程度對身心健康之預測力。採橫斷式之相關性研究，研究對象為台北市年滿65歲（含）以上之社區老年人，共收案516位老人。研究工具包括華人健康量表（CHQ-12）與台灣老年憂鬱量表（TGDS-30）。結果顯示：研究對象39.7％過去一年曾跌倒，最常見的慢性病是高血壓（38.2％）、關節炎（24.0％）、糖尿病（23.6％）。女性及年齡較大老人的身心健康比男性及年齡小者差（p＜.01）。罹患糖尿病、關節炎、肝膽疾病及脊椎骨刺等慢性病的老年人，身心健康狀況皆較差（p＜.01）。老年人跌倒次數越多、憂鬱程度越高，則身心健康狀態越差（p＜.01）。複回歸分析結果顯示跌倒次數、憂鬱程度對身心健康具有預測力，可解釋總變異量22％。建議醫療健康照護人員應預防老年人跌倒，改善老年人之憂鬱程度，尤其需要注意年齡較大女性老人，以促進老年人的身心健康。With the aging population increases, elderly mental and physical health receives more attention. The purpose of this study was to explore the related factors affecting physical and mental health of older people. A cross-sectional correlation study design was carried out. Five hundred and sixteen subjects were recruited from community's elderly who were over 65 years old with convenience sampling. The instruments used in this study were the Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHQ-12) and Taiwan Geriatric Depression Scale-30 (TGDS-30). The results are as follows: 39.7% of the subjects fell down in the past year. Most common comorbid diseases of subjects were hypertension (38.2%), arthritis (24.0%), and DM (23.6%). Female and elders had significant poorer CHQ-12 scores than male and younger people (p<.01). The elderly suffered from DM, arthritis, hepatic-bililary disease and spondylosis had higher CHQ-12 scores (p<.01). The elderly with more falling times and higher TGDS score had poorer CHQ-12 scores (p<.01). Falling times and depression could explain 22% total variance of CHQ-12 scores. Results from this study reveal important implications to develop prevention interventions on chronic diseases and falling for female elders in order to enhance their physical and mental health.