Exploring the Relationship between Multidimensional Health and Mortality Among Korean Older Adults: Evidence from the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP)

Although the World Health Organization (WHO) initially defined health as encompassing "complete physical, mental, and social well-being," the dimension of social health has received relatively limited attention to date. This study recognizes social health as a critical component of overall health and examines the relationship between the three health dimensions and mortality in older adults. In particular, the study conceptualizes social health by evaluating various aspects, including the quality and quantity of social relationships and the structure of social networks, utilizing data from the entire social network of a single village in South Korea. Data were drawn from the Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project (KSHAP), collected over 12 years across six waves. Mortality records from Statistics Korea indicate that 149 out of the 814 individuals who participated in the first wave died by December 2020. To simultaneously account for the multidimensional aspects of health, we conducted latent class analysis (LCA) using 16 primary health-related variables extracted from the first wave of KSHAP. The LCA results reveal four distinct health groups characterized by unique attributes. Subsequently, survival analysis was employed to predict mortality rates among the identified groups. Our study underscores the importance of considering multidimensional health aspects beyond the mere presence of illness in predicting mortality. It specifically examines the role of social health as an essential variable in forecasting mortality rates.