Online Program

292928
Impact of media use on health-related quality of life among community-dwelling elderly in Japan: A population-based study


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Hanako Kitano, MPH, Keio Reseach Institute of SFC, Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan, Fujisawa City,Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Haruhiko Imamura, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
Miki Akiyama, PhD, Facluty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
Eiko Uchiyama, PhD, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
Ikuyo Kaneko, PhD, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
Toru Takebayashi, MD, MPH, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
The aim of this population-based study was to investigate the association between media use and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among the community-dwelling elderly. The study was conducted in Kurihara City of Miyagi prefecture, a typical aged community in rural Japan. Six districts were randomly selected from the all 10 districts in Kurihara, and all but institutionalized residents with 65 years of age or older (n=14097) were given a self-administered questionnaire. HRQOL was measured by Short Form-8 (SF-8), summarized into physical composites score (PCS) and mental composites score (MCS). High and low HRQOL (MCS and PCS) were defined as the top and bottom 25th percentile of HRQOL scores, respectively. Media use, health information seeking behavior, and general demographic information were also collected through a questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis adjusted for age and other possible confounders was employed to examine the relationship between two summary SF-8 scores (PCS, MCS) and the media use. 11,821 (response rate 84%) completed the questionnaire, and 58% were 65-74 years of age and 42% were 75 or older. Of those, 3046(28.9%) were using mobile phone and 973 (10.0%) were using email, while only 374 (3.7%) were accessing to the internet. Use of email (OR=0.71, 95%CI:0.53-0.94) and Internet were inversely associated with low MCS (OR=0.71, 0.50-1.00). People who had strong interests in health-related information (OR=1.67, 95% CI:1.03-2.73)were associated with high PCS. This large scale population-based study indicates that among elderly active media users are likely to maintain better HRQOL.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the information seeking behavior among the elderly

Keyword(s): Quality of Life, Health Information

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have served as a research assistant on this project from its inception, and assisted in data collection and aggregation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.