title: [Health status and socioeconomic factors related to home remedy practices among elderly subjects living in a community in Okinawa].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the present study was to clarify health status and socioeconomic characteristics of elderly persons who practice home remedies as complementary alternative medicine. Whether such usage is associated with health-related factors was also assessed.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects are 243 independent elderly living at home in A-village of Okinawa prefecture, aged 65 years or older. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to all subjects in 2001. Included were questions on socioeconomic indicators, health status, IADL, health habits, social network, social support and home remedy practices. All data were statistically analyzed by Student's t test and the chi-square test. In addition logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios for current practitioners for each of the factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The present study included 200 subjects who responded and completed all questions. (Table 2). The main results are as follows: The practitioner rate for home remedies was 50.8% in males and 71.9% in females, the difference being significant (P<0.05). Usage was found to be significantly related to hypertension (P<0.05), arthritis and rheumatic disease (P<0.01), some health habits and provision nursing of social support (OR = P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, gender, and income revealed current practitioners of acupuncture to have a significantly higher level of history of hospital admission in the previous year (OR = 0.2 P<0.05), food control habits (OR = 4.3 P<0.05) and provision nursing of social support (OR = 4.2 P<0.05) than non-current practitioners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this study suggest that home remedy practices are associated with health-related habit and provision of social support for good quality of elderly life. The purpose is not only physical care but also health maintenance and promotion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University.
authors.forename: Mieko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Emiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sakakura
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.forename: Youko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Katakura
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kishi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires