Socio Demographic Factors in Relation to Chronic Illness among Elderly in India: Evidences From DLHS-4 Data.

Jai Kishun

Volume : VIII, Issue : XI, November - 2019

Socio Demographic Factors in Relation to Chronic Illness among Elderly in India: Evidences From DLHS-4 Data.

Jai Kishun

Abstract :

Introduction: Aging is a natural phenomenon associated with deteriorating health condition. Chronic diseases in elderly people hindering their physical functioning and psychological well–being. The rapid growth in the elderly population poses social and financial challenges. In this present study, it is try assess the associations of socio demographic, personal habits with chronic diseases among rural and urban areas of the elderly in India. Methodology: District Level Household Survey (DLHS) – 4 data (2012–13) covered 171739 elderly people aged 60 years and above from 21 States/UTs of India. Of the total 40334 (24.8) elderly were reported to suffer from some kind of chronic illness during last one year including rural and urban areas. Bivariate analysis along with chi–square test were performed for associations between socio–demographic, personal habit and Chronic illness, binary and multiple logistic regression were performed to examine risk between exposure and outcome variables. Results: Almost 25% of elderly suffers from different types of chronic illness in India. The prevalence of chronic illness were found higher in urban area among all the socio demographic characteristics and personal habits. Prevalence of ever use chew tobacco was 21.6, ever smoke tobacco was 25.0 and ever drink alcohol was 24.8% respectively. Unadjusted odds ratio shows male were 10% less likely to have chronic illness (CI= 0.88–0.92, p<0.001) than the female. Risk of chronic illness among general caste were higher than SC/ST/OBC. As compared to reference category (Hindu), Sikh (OR–1.29, CI–1.24–1.34, p=<0.001) and Muslim (OR–1.20, CI–1.14–1.25, p=<0.001) were more likely to have chronic illness. Adjusted odds ratio shows, risk of chronic illness among upper SES, higher years of schooling, marital status as separated/divorcee etc.) were higher as compared to their other respective categories. More risk were also found in ever smoking habits (OR–1.23, CI–1.18–1.28, p=<0.001) and ever use alcohol (OR–1.10, CI–1.05–1.14, p=<0.001) while in ever chew tobacco habits shows less likely to have chronic illness as compare to never use chew tobacco. Conclusions: An effective social and policy guideline for regular assessment of elderly health, especially in urban areas, females, higher SES group, higher age group along with their preventive and curative measures is needed . Government of India launched a number of program, their implementation needs to be strengthen.