Gender differences in the association of perceived social support and social network with self-rated health status among older adults: a population-based study in Brazil

Table 1 Characteristics (proportions) of the study sample according to gender

	Total(n= 3,649)	Women(n= 2,378)	Men(n= 1,271)	p
Self-rated health (poor)	22.9	24.6	19.9	0.004
Sociodemographic
Age group (years)				0.015
60–69	49.5	47.8	52.8
70–79	38.1	38.8	36.9
≥ 80	12.3	13.4	10.3
Years of schooling				< 0.001
No formal education	6.7	7.7	4.8
1–4 years	34.1	37.4	28.0
5–8 years	25.6	26.4	24.1
9 years or more	33.6	28.5	43.1
Income level†				< 0.001
Up to 1	25.9	33.5	13.3
1.0–3.0	37.6	39.0	35.2
3.1 and over	36.5	27.5	51.5
Employment status (working)	25.9	19.5	37.6	< 0.001
Health-related behaviours
Regular physical activities‡	35.1	33.1	38.9	0.002
Smoking				< 0.001
Former smoker	31.8	21.7	50.7
Current smoker	8.9	7.2	12.2
Use of health services
Health insurance	45.9	48.0	42.0	< 0.001
Use of public health service	51.0	49.7	53.8	0.063
Functional status measures§
Independent (ADL/IADL = 0)	78.0	76.7	80.7	0.062
Partially dependent (ADL = 0/IADL ≥ 1)	16.6	17.5	15.0
Dependent (ADL ≥ 1)	5.4	5.9	4.4
Somatic health problems
Joint diseases	47.4	57.2	29.1	< 0.001
Depression	24.5	28.3	17.4	< 0.001
Hypertension	62.9	65.6	57.6	< 0.001
Diabetes	17.7	17.5	18.0	0.683
Perceived social support
Live accompanied	76.6	71.7	85.7	< 0.001
One or more people to count on	84.8	83.8	86.6	< 0.001
Social networks
Participation in social group activities	69.2	72.5	63.2	0.017
Received visits/have visited someone				0.528
None in the last 30 days	18.7	18.4	19.1
Once a month	16.1	16.7	15.0
Once every 15 days	14.8	15.0	14.3
One to three times a week/almost every day	50.5	49.9	51.6

† Income level is presented in Minimum Wage Salaries.
‡ Regular physical activities: 5 or more times per week for at least 30 min.
§ ADL: Basic Activities of Daily Living; IADL: Instrumental Activities of Daily Living.
p-value refers to the significance of the Pearson’s chi-square tests.