TY - JOUR
TI - Differences in reporting somatic complaints in elderly by education
level
AU - Stankunas, Mindaugas
AU - Soares, Joaquim F. J.
AU - Stankuniene, Aurima
AU - and Melchiorre, M. Gabriella
AU - Torres-Gonzales, Francisco and
AU - Ioannidi-Kapolou, Elisabeth
AU - Barros, Henrique
AU - Lindert, Jutta
JO - Central European Journal of Medicine
PY - 2013
VL - 8
TODO - 1
SP - 125-131
PB - DE GRUYTER POLAND SP ZOO
SN - 1895-1058, 1644-3640
TODO - 10.2478/s11536-012-0093-x
TODO - Somatic complaints; Education; GBB-24; Elderly; Europe; ABUEL
TODO - To evaluate the association between somatic complaints and education
level among elders in selected European countries.
Cross-sectional study among randomly selected community dwelling persons
aged 60-84 years from seven cities in Europe: Ancona (Italy), Athens
(Greece), Granada (Spain), Kaunas (Lithuania), Stuttgart (Germany),
Porto (Portugal) and Stockholm (Sweden). Somatic complaints were
measured with the 24-item version of the Giessen Complaint List
(GBB-24). A regression analysis was done to investigate the association
between education and somatic complaints. Results. The mean GBB-24 scale
was 16.3 +/- 14.9. The most common complaints were pain in joints and
limbs (29.6%), back-pain (24.1%), heaviness or tiredness in the legs
(19.1%) and general tiredness (15.7%). Respondents with less than
primary education reported higher levels of somatic symptoms compared to
those with university degree. A regression analysis showed that higher
education (OR=0.69) and being male (OR=0.48) were associated with a
decreased risk for high levels of somatic complaints, and the opposite
for older age (OR=1.03) and being single/divorced/window (OR=1.28).
The results indicate that less educated elders are more likely to
expressed somatic complaints.
ER -