Health Status of the Elders in Uruguay

Abstract

Basing on the survey on Health, Well-being and Aging (SABE-PAHO/WHO, 2001) the determinants of health status for the cohort of 60 years old and over in Montevideo are estimated. Sixty seven percent of older adults perceived their health status as good. Estimates for the different indicators of health used (self-assessment, chronic diseases and functional limitations) allow to state that the conditions during the first years of life, either nutritional, sanitary or economic, are determinants of health status in the final stages of life. The facts above referred become extremely important when allocating resources, which are scarce by definition, to improve the population health status. As shown by the literature, the expansion of education as well as the improvement of nutritional status during the early stages of life have proved to be more effective in increasing life span than clinical medicine. In a country where the levels of poverty mainly affect children - at present these represent 60% of poor people - it could be possible to anticipate problems in health stock depreciation, thus in human capital depreciation, less productivity and an increased demand for health care as current cohorts grow old.