Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jun:9:52-62.
doi: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2016.07.002.

The dynamics of physical and mental health in the older population

Julius Ohrnberger  1 , Eleonora Fichera  1 , Matt Sutton  1
Affiliations

The dynamics of physical and mental health in the older population

Julius Ohrnberger et al. J Econ Ageing. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Mental and physical aspects are both integral to health but little is known about the dynamic relationship between them. We consider the dynamic relationship between mental and physical health using a sample of 11,203 individuals in six waves (2002-2013) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). We estimate conditional linear and non-linear random-effects regression models to identify the effects of past physical health, measured by Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and past mental health, measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, on both present physical and mental health. We find that both mental and physical health are moderately state-dependent. Better past mental health increases present physical health significantly. Better past physical health has a larger effect on present mental health. Past mental health has stronger effects on present physical health than physical activity or education. It explains 2.0% of the unobserved heterogeneity in physical health. Past physical health has stronger effects on present mental health than health investments, income or education. It explains 0.4% of the unobserved heterogeneity in mental health. These cross-effects suggest that health policies aimed at specific aspects of health should consider potential spill-over effects.

Keywords: Cross-effects; Dynamic models; Mental health; Physical health.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Allen J., Balfour R., Bell R., Marmot M. Social determinants of mental health. Int. Rev. Psychiatry. 2014;26(4):392–407. - PubMed
    1. Allin S., Stabile M. Socioeconomic status and child health: what is the role of health care, health conditions, injuries and maternal health? Health Econ. Policy Law. 2012;7(2):227–242. - PubMed
    1. Angrist J.D., Pischke J.S. Princeton University Press; Princeton: 2009. Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist’s Companion. (Chapter 5)
    1. Arellano M., Bond S. Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. Rev. Econ. Stud. 1991;58:277–297.
    1. Armenta B.E., Sittner Hartshorn K.J., Whitbeck L.B., Crawford D.M., Hoyt D.R. A longitudinal examination of the measurement properties and predictive utility of the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale among north american indigenous adolescents. Psychol. Assess. 2014;26(4):1347–1355. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources