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Gender Differences in Health and Health Expectancies of Older Adults in Singapore: An Examination of Diseases, Impairments, and Functional Disabilities

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Abstract

Using a nationally representative sample of 4,511 Singaporeans aged 55+ from the 2005 National Survey of Senior Citizens (NSSC), this paper examines gender differences in specific diseases, impairments, and disabilities, and computes health expectancies for these health dimensions. Results show that women have higher prevalence for hypertension, bone/joint, eye/vision, and walking problems, while heart diseases and stroke are more common among men, particularly at younger ages. At ages 75+, women have more disabilities related to basic activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, and feeding) than men. Health expectancies computations by the Sullivan method reveal that while women live longer than men, they can also expect more years of life both without and with diseases, impairments, and disabilities. At age 65, a larger proportion of women’s remaining life is with hypertension, bone/joint problems, vision impairments, walking difficulties, and functional disabilities compared to same-aged men. The findings largely support the gender health-survival paradox found in Western countries—that women have higher morbidity rates despite longer life expectancy. The morbidity differences between men and women, however, vary depending on the particular health dimension and measure examined. Older women in Singapore tend to be advantaged in prevalence of diseases and disease-free life expectancy, but have more impairments and functional disabilities, and a larger proportion of remaining life with these difficulties compared to older men. Health policies and programs in Singapore will need to cater to these gender differences in specific health dimensions and measures.

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Notes

  1. Heart diseases in this study based on data from Supplements on Aging to the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) were measured by “ever had coronary heart disease, angina, heart attack, myocardial infarction”.

  2. We omitted from this study another commonly used health dimension—self-rated health—since it is not available in the survey data and we focused on the relatively more objective, although self-reported, health dimensions.

  3. The original sample size was determined based on a targeted response rate of about 60%, similar to that obtained in an earlier NSSC in 1995.

  4. The 2000 Census of Population was used instead of 2005 mid-year estimates of the population because the sampling for the survey was based on the 2000 Census.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by an Academic Frontier grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to Nihon University Population Research Institute and a ARF research grant from the National University of Singapore, R-111-000-073-112. The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports in Singapore for making the data available for use. The authors retain full responsibility for the analyses and findings of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nihon University Population Research Institute, Nihon University, 12-5 Goban-cho, Chiyoda-ku , Tokyo, 102–8251, Japan

    Vanessa Yong

  2. Advanced Research Institute for the Sciences and Humanities, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan

    Vanessa Yong & Yasuhiko Saito

  3. Department of Sociology and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Angelique Chan

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  1. Vanessa Yong
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  2. Yasuhiko Saito
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Correspondence to Vanessa Yong.

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Yong, V., Saito, Y. & Chan, A. Gender Differences in Health and Health Expectancies of Older Adults in Singapore: An Examination of Diseases, Impairments, and Functional Disabilities. J Cross Cult Gerontol 26, 189–203 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-011-9143-0

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