Predictor Of Ill-health Research Articles

Inequalities in morbidity in South Africa: A family perspective.

South Africa is struggling to achieve sustainable development targets as the country faces a quadruple burden of diseases. Concerted efforts to realise good health for all people require evidence-based targeted interventions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between living arrangements and self-reported ill-health among adults aged 15 years and older in South Africa. Analyses were based on a sample of 49,962 individuals drawn from the 2017 South African General Household Survey, using a multivariate regression technique to assess the distribution and predictors of ill-health. Composite indices of disease burdens were created using several related morbidities in each disease category. The findings confirm that health outcomes in South Africa vary by living arrangements of individuals, their socioeconomic status, and by the level of urbanisation or residence. It was found that women who are black, younger and less-educated, irrespective of their living arrangement, are particularly vulnerable to illhealth. Policy implications are discussed.

Pressure sore risk: validating an assessment tool

A study was conducted within a South London community trust to establish whether the Waterlow Pressure Sore Risk Score could usefully assist district nurses in their allocation of pressure relieving equipment to elderly patients. In part one of the study 40 elderly patients with and without pressure sores were assessed by two community nurses, to measure the level of agreement. In part two, 31 randomly selected patients were followed up for eight weeks, at fortnightly intervals, to measure the ability of the Waterlow Score to predict pressure sore formation. High levels of agreement were not found. The findings indicate that the Waterlow Score should not be used as the sole basis for the allocation of preventive devices to this group of patients. However, the study did suggest that high to very high Waterlow scores may be a predictor of ill-health in the population. This hypothesis requires further investigation.