Abstract
In developing countries, older adults (65 years of age and above) share an increased vulnerability to catastrophic health expenditures and financial stress which can have significant bearing on their health and well-being. Currently, research evidence on how financial stress correlates with health and well-being among older adults in the developing countries is limited. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to assess the relationship between financial stress and subjective 1) health, 2) depression, 3) quality of life, and 4) life satisfaction among older adults in five developing countries.MethodsData used in this study were cross-sectional which were collected from the first wave of Study on Global AGEing and Health (SAGE) survey of World Health Organization. Sample population were 12,299 community dwelling men and women in China (n = 4548), Ghana (n = 1968), India (n = 2441), South Africa (n = 1924), and Russia (n = 1418). Using generalized linear models with logit links, we assessed the correlation between self-reported financial stress and income inequality with the four outcome measures by adjusting for various sociodemographic factors.ResultsOverall, the prevalence of good self-reported health, quality of life and positive life-satisfaction was 47.11, 79.25 and 44.40% respectively, while 20.13% of the participants reported having depression during past 12 months. Only about a fifth (18.67%) of the participants reported having enough money to meet daily their necessities completely, while more than quarter (28.45%) were in the lowest income quintile. With a few exceptions, the odds of reporting good self-reported health, quality of life, and life satisfaction were generally lower among those with varying degrees of financial stress, and larger among those in the higher income quintiles. Conversely, the likelihood of self-reported depression was significantly higher among those with any level of financial stress, and lower among those in the higher income quintiles.ConclusionThis study concludes that both subjectively and objectively measured financial stress are inversely associated with good self-reported health, quality of life, life satisfaction, and positively associated with self-reported depression among older adults.
Highlights
Last few decades in the developing world have been marked with success stories in population health surrounding improved nutrition and child survival, falling female fertility rates, better living standard and increasing longevity [1,2,3,4]
Data source Data used in this study were collected from the first wave of Study on Global AGEing and Health (SAGE) survey of World Health Organization
Less than half (44.40%) of the participants reported being satisfied with life. 14.18% of the participants were in the highest income quintile, 18.67% of the reported having enough money to meet daily necessities completely
Summary
Last few decades in the developing world have been marked with success stories in population health surrounding improved nutrition and child survival, falling female fertility rates, better living standard and increasing longevity [1,2,3,4]. The emerging economies, on the other hand, have a predominantly younger age structure and have smaller segment of the middle aged (typically between 45 and 64 years) and older adults (> 64 years) Despite this conducive demographic profile for labour market and healthcare systems, the repercussions of aging on population health and development efforts are no less challenging for the developing countries [8]. The socioeconomic impacts of population aging in the developing countries is more pronounced owing to inadequate resource and logistical capacity and healthcare infrastructure to provide quality care for the elderly [9] These challenges are mutually disadvantageous and cyclical in nature in the sense that lack of national capacity can limit the provision of much needed financial insecurity and social and health for the elderly, which in turn can affect the economy through fueling poverty, diseases, and social distress [10]
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