OBJECTIVES:

As the population grow older, many people suffer from multimorbidity. Individuals with multiple chronic conditions may have declined more rapidly in health status. In many case, activities of daily living (ADL) is associated with health status and multimorbidity. This research aims to identify the association multimorbidity with health status and to explore the mediating effect of ADL.

METHODS:

Individuals with chronic disease who aged 65 and over (n=2705) were analyzed, based upon the data of the Korean health panel (KHP), which is nationally representative. Multiple linear regression was used not only to analyze the association multimorbidity with health status and identify the mediating effect of ADL.

RESULTS:

Mediator analysis revealed that the indirect effect of multimorbidity on SRH through the proposed mediators was significant (b=0.112, p<0.001) with an explained variance of adj. R2 = 0.48. We found that functional health and physical limitations such as Activities of Daily Living partially mediate the association between multimorbidity and SRH. Firstly, multimorbidity was a powerful and important determinant of SRH. The effect of physical limitation, ADL, was also significant and remarkable factors about SRH. All analyze was performed with control variables such as SES, lifestyle.

CONCLUSIONS: Self-rated health is a very individual index of general health. It is influenced by multiple chronic condition, functional and physical health. In an aging society, young people will not be sufficient to care for the elderly. Self - care will be a factor to improve the health status of the old people in the elderly society.