1School of Public Health, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, (TN)
2U. S. Agency for International Development, New Delhi
3International Institute of Health Management and Research, New Delhi
Department of Demography, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, (Kerala)
Online published on 8 May, 2023.
This study explores (i) the health status among the elderly in India; (ii) variation in the health status among the elderly by their socioeconomic characteristics; and, (iii) the morbidity among the elderly from a different group ofdiseases. It used data collected by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for its 75th round survey, namely ‘Social Consumption in India-Health’ which was conducted in the country between July 2017 and June 2018. The study employed age-adjusted logistic regression (OR) for finding the dependence of ‘Poor overall health status’ with background characteristics of the elderly It was observed that poor perceived health status rose with the increase in the age of respondents and was comparatively higher among women, those who lived without their spouse, resided in urban areas and were economically dependent, than their counterparts. In the case of physical immobility as well, a substantial increase in the proportion of persons suffering from this phenomenon was observed with an increase in age. It was also higher among women who lived without their spouses. The morbidity profile ofthe elderly found a high prevalence of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, endocrine, metabolic and nutritional group of diseases, and musculoskel etal ailments among the elderly.
