Health

17 Apr 09

The survey has found that the rate of ill health reported by women aged 65 and over has fallen

The rate of ill health reported by women aged 65 and over has fallen during the last 15 years and is now equal with that of men, a comprehensive survey by Oxford University has found. 

The study into the way that older Britons have described their health since the 1970s shows that men and women over 64 are now statistically equal in the proportion saying they have poor health. The survey involving 95,000 people suggests there has been a change since 1990, when women aged over 64 reported significantly higher levels of ill health than men. 

The paper, entitled ‘Changing gender differences in old age – self reported health in UK’, was presented at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference today (17 April). It overturns the long-held view that despite the fact that women live longer than men they experience worse health in old age. 

Researcher Suen Yiu Tung, from the Institute of Ageing, believes that the health of those aged over 64 is strongly influenced by events earlier in their life. He suggests that since the First World War women have had greater opportunities for education and work, the right to vote, and equality in law, which has set the scene for greater equality in health among older women in old age.  

Mr Suen analysed replies from male and female respondents in the General Household Survey, who were asked to rate their health as ‘good’, ‘fairly good’ or ‘not good’. By doing a snapshot year by year of the health of those aged over 64, Mr Suen found that the proportion of men reporting ill health in the 1990s rose from 18 per cent in 1989 to 22 per cent in 2004, and that of women fell, from 26 per cent to 23 per cent. Before 1991, women aged over 64 were significantly more likely to report ill health, he found.    

Mr Suen said: ‘Social changes have reduced gender disparities in earlier life, and inevitably, also affected gender disparities in later life. This research suggests that the conventional understanding of the comparative ill health of older women may not hold true anymore. When these cohorts grew to over 65 years, it was observed that the gender difference diminished in the 1990s and more so after 2000.  

‘The results cannot be generalised to developing countries or even other developed countries that had different experiences in gender relations in the past century. There is no guarantee that the trend would continue in the same direction.’

He believes these findings highlight the importance of targeting adequate resources toward older men’s health, particularly as men have been traditionally reluctant to seek medical help.