Relationship of internet use to self-rated health and happiness among older people

<p>  The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of Internet use to health and happiness among older people. We used data of 22,295 community dwelling older adults in Japan who did not receive benefits from public long-term care insurance (JAGES [Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study] 2016). We applied multinomial logistic regression models with self-rated health (Very good, Good, and Bad (reference category)) and happiness (Happy, Neutral, and Unhappy (reference category)) as dependent variables. We found that Internet use for communication with family and friends was associated with better self-rated health (Very good: odds ratio (OR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] :1.64 [1.37, 1.97], Good: OR [95% CI] :1.20 [1.04, 1.39]) and greater happiness (Happy: OR [95%CI]: 1.38 [1.09, 1.74]) after adjustment for sex, age, educational attainment, equivalized income, instrumental activities of daily living, population density, living arrangement, working status, and frequency of meeting friends. We found no significant association between other purposes(except for some SNS)of Internet use and health/happiness. Social connections via the Internet might be useful to maintain health and happiness of older people when direct contact with others is difficult due to obstacles or infectious disease countermeasures, etc.</p>