BMC Public Health 2005, 5:65 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/5/65 Table 2: Life expectancy at 65 years (LE65) and health expectancy at 65 years (HE65) among municipalities in Japan. Population size a LE65 HE65 a Population size: total = total municipalities (N = 3361); small = less than 10,000 (N = 1554), medium = 10,000 to 100,000 (N = 1469), large = more than 100,000 (N = 338) Table 3: Correlation of health expectancy at 65 years with socio-demographic indicators. Correlation coefficient of life expectancy at 65 years (LE65), health expectancy at 65 years (HE65) with socio-demographic indicators by size of municipalitiesa in Japan. Mean ± S.D. 17.56 ± 0.58 17.61 ± 0.59 17.46 ± 0.58 17.58 ± 0.57 22.54 ± 0.68 22.64 ± 0.66 22.48 ± 0.72 22.40 ± 0.57 LE65 Total -0.11 -0.11 0.10 0.00 -0.01 -0.17 0.06 -0.28 Total -0.10 -0.10 0.05 -0.18 -0.12 -0.26 0.17 -0.35 0.80 (range) (14.9 – 20.3) (15.0 – 19.8) (15.8 – 20.3) (14.9 – 19.5) (20.1 – 27.2) (20.1 – 26.3) (20.2 – 27.3) (20.6 – 24.5) Mean ± S.D. 15.53 ± 0.52 15.56 ± 0.53 15.53 ± 0.51 15.42 ± 0.49 18.01 ± 0.77 18.03 ± 0.78 18.09 ± 0.77 17.62 ± 0.62 (range) (13.13 – 17.39) (13.63 – 17.39) (13.48 – 17.08) (13.13 – 16.84) (14.84 – 20.53) (14.83 – 20.53) (15.45 – 20.11) (14.84 – 18.94) Men HE65 Small -0.12 -0.14 0.08 -0.14 -0.13 -0.25 0.29 -0.36 0.82 Medium -0.08 -0.03 -0.02 -0.27 -0.09 -0.26 0.22 -0.35 0.79 Large 0.05 -0.02 -0.27 -0.43 0.05 -0.44 0.46 -0.52 0.86 LE65 Total -0.18 -0.20 0.20 0.17 -0.03 -0.15 -0.15 -0.20 Total -0.09 -0.10 0.05 -0.25 -0.20 -0.29 0.16 -0.33 0.21 Women HE65 Small 0.00 -0.01 0.01 -0.22 -0.21 -0.29 0.34 -0.24 0.24 Medium -0.13 -0.10 0.02 -0.33 -0.23 -0.26 0.21 -0.38 0.17 Large -0.06 -0.27 -0.15 -0.50 0.06 -0.44 0.26 -0.57 0.30 Sex Men Women Total Small Medium Large Total Small Medium Large Indicator Population Population density Proportion of elderly Percentage of households of a single elderly Percentage of nuclear households Divorce rate Per capita income Unemployment rate Life expectancy at 65 year for some sex a Total = total municipalities (N = 3361); Small = municipalities with a population of less than 10,000 (N = 1554); Medium = municipalities with a population of 10,000 to 100,000 (N = 1469); Large = municipalities with a population of more than 100,000 (N = 338). Statistical significant: p < 0.001 for coefficients of more than 0.05 or less than 0.05 in total municipalities and for coefficients of more than 0.1 or less than 0.1 in small, medium, and large municipality groups. Compared to LE65, HE65 showed a stronger correlation with the percentage of households of a single elderly per- son and per capita income for men, and with the percent- age of nuclear households, divorce rate and unemployment for men and women, while a weaker cor- relation with the proportion of elderly for men and women. The correlation with the percentage of house- holds of a single elderly person and per capita income for women was reversed between LE65 and HE65. Concerning the correlation coefficients according to pop- ulation size of municipalities, the socio-demographic indicators showed a stronger correlation in large munici- palities (with a population of more than 100,000) than in small and medium-size municipalities, except for popula- tion, population density, and the percentage of nuclear households. Especially, the percentage of households of a single elderly person, divorce rate, per capita income and unemployment rate showed correlation coefficients of more than 0.4 (or less than -0.4) in large municipalities. Discussion This study estimated HE of older people and demon- strated its relation to socio-demographic indicators at the municipal level across Japan. As a result, the estimated HE65 (years) ranged from 13.13 to 17.39 for men and from 14.84 to 20.53 for women, and it was closely related to area socio-demographic conditions such as the percent- age of households of a single elderly person, divorce rate, per capita income and unemployment rate. The relation of HE65 to socio-demographic indicators was stronger than that of LE65, and municipalities with a larger popu- lation showed a stronger relation between HE65 and socio-demographic factors. Page 6 of 9 (page number not for citation purposes)