This thesis presents results of an investigation of the variations in health in the
elderly Thai between 2002 and 2007. The analyses are based on the Surveys of
Elderly in Thailand in 2002 and 2007. Health at old age is one of the key concerns
about population ageing in Thailand because older people are more frails. The
differences in health status at old age between areas of residence, individual
characteristics and time periods were investigated in this study. The variations of
health in old age between areas of residence were measured using multilevel models
and the results showed that the differences of health in old age between areas of
residences are lower than the differences from individual characteristics.
The rise of expected life years lead to the concern about whether these extra years
will be spent in healthy or unhealthy life. To investigate trends of health in old age
Thai, this study adopted healthy life expectancy calculated by Sullivan?s method as
the health measure. Because health has many dimensions, this study calculated
healthy life expectancy based on self-rated health, self-care disability and mobility
disability to represent different aspects of general health and disability in later life.
The results showed that trends in healthy life expectancy varied by age, gender and
the health indicators applied.