Determinants of Health Expectancy among Older Adults in Viet Nam: Results from the First Nationally Representative Longitudinal Survey

Yasuhiko Saito, Nihon University
Nguyen Vu, Institute of Population, Health and Development
Linh Thuy Dang, Linh T. Dang

The United Nations declared “Decade of Healthy Ageing” for 2021-2030 as one way to deal with population ageing in the world. In the report on health ageing published by WHO in 2020, the concept of health is shifting from diseases to functioning. Instead of longevity, health expectancy measured by functioning seems to be paid more attention. Research on health expectancy in Viet Nam is very scarce and study using longitudinal data does not exist because no such data were available before. In the study health expectancy among older adults aged 60 and over is estimated using the nationally representative survey data called Longitudinal Study of Ageing and Health in Viet Nam. The baseline survey was conducted in 2018 to 2019 and the follow-up survey was conducted in 2022 to 2023. Exit survey was conducted at the follow-up survey with proxy respondents for those deceased original sample persons at the baseline. Health status is defined by Activities of Daily Living and multistate life table methods are used to estimate health expectancy by sex first. Then, factors known to be associated with changes in health status are introduced and examine the effects of factors such as the level of education.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Longitudinal studies , Mortality and Longevity, Population Ageing

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