IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i21p11115-d662522.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greater Risk of Negative Health Outcomes of Older Adults Living Alone in Vietnam: A Community Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Man Thi Hue Vo

    (Department of Global Health Entrepreneurship, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan)

  • Keiko Nakamura

    (Department of Global Health Entrepreneurship, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan
    WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Policy Research, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan)

  • Kaoruko Seino

    (Department of Global Health Entrepreneurship, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8519, Japan)

  • Thang Van Vo

    (Faculty of Public Health, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, Hue 530000, Vietnam
    The Institute for Community Health Research, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University, Hue 530000, Vietnam)

Abstract

In modern Asian societies, there has been a shift in the living arrangements of older adults away from living with others. Knowing the health characteristics of individuals living alone can help identify high-risk groups. This cross-sectional study aimed to describe characteristics of the Vietnamese older adults and to investigate the association between living alone and their reported health outcomes by utilizing survey data of individuals aged ≥60 years in Vietnam in 2018. The community survey included questions about sociodemographic factors, living arrangement, and self-reported physical functional status. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine whether or not living alone was a predictor of health outcomes. Of 725 study participants, 8.9% lived alone. These participants were more likely to be female, aged 70–79 years, living in rural areas, and currently single or previously married. After adjusting for covariates, older adults who were living alone were more likely to have arthritis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.95, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10–3.45), a history of falling (AOR = 2.44, 95% CI: 1.02–5.82), visual difficulties (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.04–3.41), feelings of loneliness (AOR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.10–3.47), and high fear of falling (AOR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.02–3.46). Older adults living alone in Vietnam were at greater risk of negative health consequences than those living with others. Screening and providing adequate social support for this specific population is important in preventing the adverse effects of solitary living among these older adults.

Suggested Citation

  • Man Thi Hue Vo & Keiko Nakamura & Kaoruko Seino & Thang Van Vo, 2021. "Greater Risk of Negative Health Outcomes of Older Adults Living Alone in Vietnam: A Community Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-9, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11115-:d:662522
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11115/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/21/11115/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan & John Knodel & Wiraporn Pothisiri, 2015. "What does living alone really mean for older persons? A comparative study of Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(48), pages 1329-1360.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeofrey Bautista Abalos & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2023. "Demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors for the rise in one-person households in developing countries: the case of the Philippines," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1-32, December.
    2. Nattaya Prapaipanich, 2018. "A study of elderly welfare by comparing private and public retirement homes: A case study in Bangkok," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 14(2), pages 243-255, April.
    3. Wei-Jun Jean Yeung & Adam Ka-Lok Cheung, 2015. "Living Alone," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(40), pages 1099-1112.
    4. Pawinee Iamtrakul & Sararad Chayphong, 2022. "Exploring the Influencing Factors on Living Alone and Social Isolation among Older Adults in Rural Areas of Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-18, November.
    5. Angelique Chan & Abhijit Visaria & Bina Gubhaju & Stefan Ma & Yasuhiko Saito, 2021. "Gender differences in years of remaining life by living arrangement among older Singaporeans," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 453-466, December.
    6. Kyriaki Kalimeri & Mariano G. Beiró & Andrea Bonanomi & Alessandro Rosina & Ciro Cattuto, 2020. "Traditional versus Facebook-based surveys: Evaluation of biases in self-reported demographic and psychometric information," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(5), pages 133-148.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:21:p:11115-:d:662522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.