Belief about the future possibility of national aging security system and its association with mortality

Abstract

In line with well-known subjective measures of health, such as self-rated health and subjective life expectancy, an individual’s belief about future security provided by the government could also be an important factor affecting his life expectancy. The aim of this study was to use the response of the elderly Korean population in regards to the National Aging Security System (NASS), and assess its association with the risk of mortality even with SRH included in the analysis. Data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA) from 2006 to 2016 were assessed using longitudinal data analysis and 10,254 research subjects were included at baseline in 2006. To analyze the association between belief about future possibility of NASS and all-cause mortality, Cox proportional hazards model was used. In terms of the future possibility of NASS, people who thought more negatively displayed greater risk of mortality at the end of the follow-up. With the Positive group as reference: Moderate group showed a 18% increase (HR = 1.178, 95% CI: 1.022, 1.357), and Negative groups showed a 19% increase (HR = 1.192, 95% CI: 1.043, 1.362). The results of our study showed that people’s belief regarding future security could be associated with mortality rates. Our finding is important, because it provides additional support to the importance of considering subjective measures of health in epidemiological research. Furthermore, the findings of our research could be useful in terms of future policy making.