Table 2 Frequencies and 95% confidence intervals of perceived social support, social network and covariates between self-rated health groups according to gender

1st Block - Social support and social network

Perceived social support

  Live accompanied

71.2

73.3

0.304

86.4

83.6

0.254

  One or more people to count on

86.2

76.1

<0.001

87.9

81.4

0.007

Social network

Participation in group activities

73.2

70.6

0.192

65.1

55.0

0.002

Received visits/have visited someone

0.011

0.208

  None in the last 30 days

17.0

22.9

18.8

19.9

  Once a month

16.4

17.8

14.0

19.6

  Once every 15 days

14.8

15.5

14.8

12.0

  1 to 3 times a week/almost every day

51.8

43.8

52.4

48.5

2nd Block - Demographic

Age group (years)

0.525

0.464

  60 - 69

47.6

49.9

53.3

52.1

  70 - 79

39.5

37.1

37.2

36.1

  ≥ 80

12.9

13.0

9.4

11.8

3rd Block - Socioeconomic characteristics

Years of schooling

<0.001

<0.001

  No formal education

7.6

7.9

4.1

7.3

  1 to 4 years

35.4

44.0

25.9

36.1

  5 to 8 years

26.3

26.8

23.8

25.7

  9 years or more

30.7

21.3

46.2

31.0

Income level†

<0.001

<0.001

  Up to 1

31.1

41.4

10.9

22.4

  1.0 to 3.0

38.1

40.7

16.8

18.8

  3.1 and over

30.8

17.9

29.3

27.9

Employment status (working)

21.4

13.7

<0.001

40.1

28.6

<0.001

4th Block - Health-related behaviours

Regular physical activities‡

36.1

23.8

<0.001

42.4

25.5

<0.001

 Smoking

0.889

0.123

  Former smoker

21.9

21.2

50.1

52.8

  Current smoker

7.3

6.9

11.5

15.1

5th Block – Use of health services

Health insurance

51.2

37.6

<0.001

45.2

29.8

<0.001

Use of public health services

46.4

59.8

<0.001

51.0

64.3

<0.001

6th Block - Functional status and somatic health problems

Functional status measures§

<0.001

<0.001

  Independent (ADL/IADL = 0)

81.2

62.9

83.8

67.8

  Partially dependent (ADL = 0/IADL ≥ 1)

14.5

26.2

13.4

20.8

  Dependent (ADL ≥ 1)

4.3

10.9

2.8

11.4

Somatic health problems

Number of somatic health problems

<0.001

<0.001

  0

7.6

0.9

17.0

4.8

  1

17.2

8.0

26.9

15.3

  2 - 4

60.3

57.6

49.9

60.5

  ≥ 5

15.0

33.5

6.2

19.3

Joint diseases

52.8

70.8

<0.001

26.8

38.7

<0.001

Depression

23.9

42.1

<0.001

13.9

31.4

<0.001

Hypertension

61.6

77.5

<0.001

54.8

68.0

<0.001

Diabetes

15.2

24.4

<0.001

16.3

25.1

0.003