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BMC Geriatrics
Published in: BMC Geriatrics 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Mortality of older persons living alone: Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies

Authors: Tze Pin Ng, Aizhen Jin, Liang Feng, Ma Shwe Zin Nyunt, Khuan Yew Chow, Lei Feng, Ngan Phoon Fong

Published in: BMC Geriatrics | Issue 1/2015

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Abstract

Background

We investigated the association of living alone with mortality among older persons, independently of marital, health and other factors, and explored its effect modification by age group, sex, marital status and physical functional disability.

Method

Using data from 8 years of mortality follow up (1 September 2003 to 31 December 2011) of 2553 participants in the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies (SLAS) cohort, we estimated hazard ratio (HR) of mortality associated with living alone using Cox proportional hazard models.

Results

At baseline, 7.4 % (N = 189) of the participants were living alone, and 227 (8.9 %) died during the follow up period. Living alone was significantly associated with mortality 1.66 (95 % CI, 1.05–2.63), controlling for health status (hypertension, diabetes, chronic lung disease, stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, IADL–ADL disability and depressive symptoms), marital status and other variables (age, sex, housing type). Possible substantive effect modification by sex (p for interaction = 0.106) and marital status (p for interaction <0.115) were observed: higher among men (HR = 2.36, 95 % CI, 1.24–4.49) than women (HR = 1.14, 95 % CI, 0.58–2.22), and among single, divorce or widowed (HR = 2.26, 95 % CI, 1.24–4.10) than married individuals (HR = 0.83, 95 % CI, 0.30–2.31).

Conclusion

Living alone was associated with increased mortality, independently of marital, health and other variables. The impact of living alone on mortality appeared to be stronger among men and those who were single, divorced or married.
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Metadata
Title
Mortality of older persons living alone: Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies
Authors
Tze Pin Ng
Aizhen Jin
Liang Feng
Ma Shwe Zin Nyunt
Khuan Yew Chow
Lei Feng
Ngan Phoon Fong
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Geriatrics / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2318
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-015-0128-7

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