Abstract
BackgroundThere is a higher burden of functional disability for Indian older adults with substantial variations across different geographic regions and socioeconomic groups as compared to other ageing Asian countries. Thus, using a national sample of older adults aged 60+ years, we aim to explore how common is acquiring of disability and recovery from disability among the older population of a developing country like India, and how do the various socioeconomic and health-related conditions impact this transition in disability status.MethodThe current study uses two waves of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) and is based on panel data of 10,527 older adults. Both bivariate and multiple variable regression analysis were performed using two binary outcome variables in this study – whether older adults acquired disability and recovered from disability between round-I and round-II, respectively.Results Nearly 31.5% and 4.4 % of older adults have acquired and recovered disability across the two rounds respectively. About 38.5% and 45.8 % of female older adults’ disability status changes to disable and recovered in round-II respectively. A lesser proportion of older adults have recovered from a disability who have a chronic disease in round-I. Cataract chronic conditions among older adults in round-I had shown 1.45 times (CI: 1.07–1.97) a significantly higher likelihood of acquiring disability in round-I. Older adults who were unmarried and were not working in round-I have 1.12 times (CI: 1.01–1.25) and 1.21 times (CI: 1.06–1.39) higher likelihood of acquiring disability in round-II respectively. Recovering from disability was mostly seen among older adults who belong to the richest (OR: 2.38, CI: 1.31–4.33) and medium (OR: 2.16, CI: 1.27–3.69) wealth quintile households. Older adults residing in the central region of India have 2.72 times (CI: 2.31–3.19) significantly higher chance of acquiring disability than those who were residing in northern regions.ConclusionAppropriate measures are required to highlight the importance of chronic physical diseases and several socio-demographic factors that may negatively affect the trajectory of disability in older ages.
Highlights
There is a higher burden of functional disability for Indian older adults with substantial variations across different geographic regions and socioeconomic groups as compared to other ageing Asian countries
Older adults residing in the central region of India have 2.72 times (CI: 2.31–3.19) significantly higher chance of acquiring disability than those who were residing in northern regions
Studies based on World Health Organization (WHO) Study on Global Ageing and adult health (SAGE) data have explored the association between sociodemographic factors, chronic diseases, and disability [13, 18,19,20], and found education and employmentdriven inequalities in the prevalence of disability and its concentration in the rural areas of the developing countries
Summary
There is a higher burden of functional disability for Indian older adults with substantial variations across different geographic regions and socioeconomic groups as compared to other ageing Asian countries. Studies based on World Health Organization (WHO) Study on Global Ageing and adult health (SAGE) data have explored the association between sociodemographic factors, chronic diseases, and disability [13, 18,19,20], and found education and employmentdriven inequalities in the prevalence of disability and its concentration in the rural areas of the developing countries. A review of resilience literature talking about the ability of older individuals to maintain a positive mental state during exposure to health problems shows that those living in rural areas might show signs of high resilience by overcoming socioeconomic obstacles and being able to live a decent life despite declining health and the presence of multiple functional limitations [21]
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