Hierarchical Structure Analysis on Health Determinants of Living Environment Defining Social Capital

Abstract

In Japan, healthcare and nursing care expenses for the elderly are increasing year by year, and extending healthy life expectancy is therefore desirable. Social capital (SC) is a measure of the degree of social interaction and has been gaming attention as a health-related Previous studies have shown that few people have poor subjective health in areas with good SC scores. Thus, a living environment that fosters SC might facilitate the improvement and maintenance of health status. The purpose of this study was to clarify the effects of living, environment, such as facilities and community outreach efforts, on nursing care risk as mediated by SC. A questionnaire survey was carried out for 3 weeks from September to October 201S.Panicipants were adults in three elementary' school districts in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture. Japan Survey contents included SC, neighborhood environment, residential environment, and health status. A total of 7,220 questionnaires were distributed, And 2,053 were correctly completed (valid response rate = 28.4%). Of respondents over 65 years of age, 26.8% were at high risk of needing long-term care. Logistic regression analysis was performed to clarify the relationship between SC and the risk of requiring long-term care / support and The relationship between SC and living environment. The analysis model considered factors including age. sex. educational attainment, and length of residence in the area. The odds ratio (OR) of requiring long-term care for low SC compared with high SC was 1.91 (p <0.01). and the OR of requiring long-term care for living environment factors ranged from 1.6 to 2.0 (p <0.01). Finally, path analysis was performed. The determination coefficient for the risk of long-term care was 0.19. In summary, it became clear that among the factors of the living environment, the place of residence of the facility' affects the SC, either directly or through community components.