Social determinants of health and lifestyle in the elderly

A healthy lifestyle is one of the major determinants of health. The phenomenon of aging is one of the major demographics, social, economic and medical issues. Awareness of the factors related to the lifestyle of the elderly can be effective in planning their health promotion. The aim was to determine the role of social factors affecting the health in lifestyle of the elderly.

In the present cross-sectional descriptive study, 455 elderly people referred to comprehensive health service centers in Rasht of 1399 were studied. Samples were selected by multi-stage random sampling from 38 health centers and bases. Social determinants of health and lifestyle information related to the elderly were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire and after entering the SPSS software version 22 were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The mean score of lifestyles in the elderly was 105.66± 15.69. The highest mean score was related to the field of prevention 34.69±4.96 and the lowest score was in the field of physical activity 3.15 ±1.36. Among the social determinants of health examined, marital status, occupation, income and education were the most important factors affecting a healthy lifestyle. There was a correlation between the mean score of lifestyle and education (r = 0.223), income (r = 0.196) and job (r = -0.101).

To promote physical activity and stress management in the elderly, which will lead to a healthy lifestyle, paying attention to the social factors that determine health affecting the lifestyle obtained from this study can be a useful and effective solution.