The relationship between physical, psychological function and exercise habits in community-dwelling elderly women.

Abstract

: To clarify the health literacy of elderly females living in communities and its relationships with physical/psychological functions and exercise habits, a cross-sectional study was conducted, involving participants of physical fitness tests in a city. The partici-pantsʼ backgrounds, living conditions, health literacy, and exercise habits were examined using a self-administered questionnaire, while assessing their physical (muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and walking ability) and psychological (subjective health and life satis-faction) functions. On statistical analysis, propensity scores were used to control con-founders, and logistic regression analysis was subsequently performed to identify factors influencing health literacy. Through analysis, subjective health and exercise habits were selected as health literacy-related factors, suggesting the necessity of promoting subjective health and the development/maintenance of exercise habits to enhance health literacy.