Journal of

Introduction and purpose: Monitoring elderly health status to identify risky population is of particular importance in preventing chronic diseases and disabilities. Assessing elderly health status has been considered as one of the most important priorities and challenges in the health care system. Therefore, this study aimed to assess and compare health determinants among elderly attending to health centers of Isfahan city.

Materials and methods: This correlation study used stratified random sampling method to recruit   240 elderly (aged above 65 years old) who seek routine health care at 11 health centers in the Isfahan city. Data were collected using socio-demographic questionnaire, Rosenberg´s self-esteem scale and Goldberg´s general health questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS (Version 19) through variety of statistical test including Pearson correlation, multiple regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t-test. Ethical considerations were met in the present study.

Findings: Finding from this study revealed that 45.4% (109) of our participants were male and 54.6% (131) were female with mean age of 68.4 (SD= 4) years old. The results of one way ANOVA indicated that participants’ health status was significantly differ according to their marital status, occupation and income. Moreover, we found that two variables of self-esteem )β=0.151, t=2.5, p=0.013) and hospitalization (β=-0.4, t=6.7, p<0.001( significantly predicted elderly health status.

Conclusion: Elderly general health status might be promoted via enhancing their mental health status particularly in terms of self-esteem and reducing hospitalization.   Therefore, it is beneficial to conduct future studies for assessing role of health determinants among elderly in a broader population.