[Comparison of characteristics between respondents and nonrespondents in a national survey of Japanese elderly using six year follow-up study].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study were twofold: 1) to examine differences between respondents and nonrespondents in sociodemographic or health characteristics, 2) to study nonresponse effects on relationships between variables, using a 6 year follow-up study for both respondents and nonrespondents at the initial survey.


METHODS
The data were collected in 1987 through a national survey of Japanese adults aged 60 and over. A total of 2,200 interviews were completed from the list of 3,288 names. In 1993, 1,010 nonrespondents excluding persons who had died, moved, or whose addresses were unknown in the prior interview, were recontacted through a mail questionnaire. A total of 559 persons completed the mail questionnaire. Of the original 2,200 baseline interviewees, some by proxy interviews, 2,260 persons were reinterviewed, at the same time as the mail survey. Sociodemographic and health variables (age and sex), social indicators (educational attainment, marital status, and job status), health status (mortality, existence of diseases, and activities of daily living), subjective well-being (life satisfaction, self-rated health, and economic satisfaction) were compared between respondents and nonrespondents. Relationships between self-rated health and sociodemographic or health variables were examined by multiple regression analysis.


RESULTS
1. Compared to people who participated in the survey, norespondents were likely to be male, in the lower age categories, and with higher educational attainment at the follow-up survey. Also, life satisfaction and self-rated health were lower in nonrespondents than in respondents. Reasons for nonresponse varied but appeared to be somewhat related to characteristics of nonrespondents. 2. No significant relationships between self-rated health and sociodemographic or health variables appeared for the respondent group and also when including the nonrespondent group.


CONCLUSIONS
While differences between respondents and nonrespondents on certain variables were significant, relationships between self-rated health and sociodemographic variables were not observed.
Sugisawa
H
H
Department of Health Sociology, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology.
Kishino
H
H
Sugihara
Y
Y
Okabayashi
H
H
Shibata
H
H
D000368:Aged; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires