are lifestyle diseases a matter of concern for elderly...

Are Lifestyle Diseases a Matter of Concern for Elderly Women: A

Study of Older Old and Oldest Old Population of India

Abstract:

The elderly women are more vulnerable in India due to the patriarchal nature of Indian

society. The present study aims at understanding the extent of life style disease (LSDs)

among elderly women and to explore the factors associated with the selected LSDs in India.

Using IHDS, 2004-05 data we have analyzed three major LSDs namely High BP, Heart

disease and Diabetes. This study is restricted to elderly women who are 60 years and above.

The study has employed bi-variate and multivariate analysis to find out the association

between socioeconomic & demographic characteristics and selected LSDs among elderly

women. The results shows that a high proportion of elderly women (38%) suffer from high

blood pressure followed by diabetes (18%) and less than ten percent of them report heart

problems. Furthermore, the multi-nominal results show that the LSDs is equally prevalent in

urban area, high caste groups, educated and non-poor section of the society.

Introduction and Background

Advances in medical science and better living conditions have increased the life expectancy, which

consequently contributes to the higher proportion of older population. At present, one of the

emerging challenges being faced by economies of the world is the rapid increase in their

proportion of elderly population. Globally, the number of persons aged 60 or over is expected

to increase by more than triple by 2100, increasing from 784 million in 2011 to 2 billion in

2050 and 2.8 billion in 2100. Furthermore, presently 65 per cent of the world’s older persons

live in such regions where there is lack of basic infrastructure and are still struggling with

infectious diseases and it is expected that the proportion of elderly population will increase

to 79 per cent by 2050 (United Nations, 2011). The developed countries became old after

being rich but it’s the opposite in the case of developing countries which makes it difficult for

the governments to give priority to its geriatric population.

Twenty-first century is witnessing a serious health concern emerging out of this

unprecedented population ageing. Gavrilov and Gavrilova (2001) argued that biological

ageing is correlated with increased morbidity, mortality and poor health status. This, together

with changing lifestyles and urbanization, has brought a radical shift in the types of health

problems being faced by populations in the developing world giving rise to an ‘epidemic of

chronic diseases’. Shetty (2002) in his study finds that the changes in the pattern of

health, disease and mortality promote a major shift from infectious and parasitic

disease to non communicable as the major cause of morbidity and mortality. The

estimate provided by WHO (2010) support these findings that lifestyle and behaviour

are linked to 20–25% of the global burden of disease, which would be increasing rapidly

in poorer countries. Moreover, literature suggest that the share of NCDs is expected to

account for seven out of every 10 deaths in the developing regions by 2020, compared

with less than half today. These finding indicates that the rate of epidemiological

transition in developing countries is very rapid, which has made it difficult particularly

for the policymakers of these countries to address the rapid change in transition (Reddy

et al., 1998; WHO, 2003; Huynen, 2005; Karar, 2009; WHO, 2004, 2010) for which India

is not an exception.

In the context of India, its population growth rate has come down to 1.6 per cent per

annum and life expectancy has crossed 60 years, but the total fertility rate (TFR) is still

above replacement level, the mortality is not yet very low (Human development report

India 2011). All these demographic circumstances have led to a marked increase in the

older population in India both in relative and absolute terms. The United Nations

Population Division projected that India’s population aged 50 years and above will reach to

34 percent by 2050. It is expected that between 2010 and 2050, the share of older population

(65 years and above) will increase from five to 14 percent, while the share of the oldest

population (80+ age group) will be tripled (United Nations Population Division, 2006)

which is most likely to make India home to the second largest older population of the world

by the year 2050. At the same time, the country is also witnessing the gradual breakdown of

its traditional practice of multigenerational co residence which often used to provide the

much needed support and care to the elderly (Alam and Mukherji, 2005; Golandaj, et al.

2013; Rajan et al. 2000). The socioeconomic status of elderly in India is way behind many

economically advanced nations (Bloom et al., 2010). Around 33 percent of elderly are living

below the poverty line, and 90 percent of the workforce is engaged in unorganized sector

which has no social security mechanism (NSSO, 1998). In such circumstances, it becomes

essential to assess the condition of elderly women as given the patriarchal nature of Indian

society, in which women are the weaker sex. Prakash has rightly mentioned way back in

1999 that Indian elderly women suffer from triple jeopardy i.e. of being old, being woman in

the patriarchal structure and being poor.

In this backdrop, let us first understand the life style diseases. The trend point to the direction

where an individual will become increasingly more responsible for ensuring own well being

in the age when a person should free from all the responsibilities. The issue of ageing is more

grave for India because.

In India, Non-communical diseases (NCDs) were responsible for 53% of deaths and 44% of

disability adjusted life years lost (Srinath R. K, at al, 2005.) These findings are in

consistancy with the study, by WHO (2003) which estimated that the proportion of NCDs in

developing countries was 36% in 1990 which is expected to increase to 57% by 2020.

Developing countries, like India, are likely to face an enormous burden of NCDs in future

(Fuentes R, 2000) and of these diseases, abnormal blood pressure (BP), Hearth disease and

Diabeties are some of the most frequently reported long-term illness that causes mortality and

morbidity in the elderly population (Desai et al, 2010). Women experience proportionately

higher rates of chronic illness and disability in later life than men, and also experience lower

social and mental health status, especially if they are single and/or widowed1.

Need for the study

While these diseases present a challenge for health policy for people at all stages of life

course, they are particularly more evident among older population where their effect is

obvious. A study done by Sharma (2003) argued that elderly have limited regenerative ability

and are more prone to disease, syndromes and sickness. The average number of diseases

reported by older population is 2.6 per person, which suggest that, multiple diseases are very

common in this age group. This is so because on the one hand the elderly population are not

much aware about the newly discovered morbid conditions and hence their ignorance leads to

underreporting; secondly, the biological capacity also goes down with the increase in the age

and so the effect of these lifestyle disease could be fatal in worst cases. The increase in the

vulnerability because of biological factors cannot be controlled; however increasing

susceptibility due to man-made factors, lifestyle changes etc should be controlled if not

eradicated completely. The growing proportion of elderly population and the reducing

resistance capacity with the age gives enough reasons to understand the importance of

addressing these health problems (WHO, 2003).

1 Over 50% of women aged 80 and above are widows (Government of India, 2011).

The area of graying population is being explored at length; however there is a virtual vacuum

of studies that have attempted to explore the effect of lifestyle diseases on the elderly women.

Such diseases are termed as disease of longevity which itself points to the direction of

rejecting the assumption of elderly being immune from such diseases. The present study aims

at understanding the extent of life style disease (LSDs) among elderly women its relationship

with advancement of age and other variables and to understand the factors associated with

selected diseases in India.

Materials and Methods

Data source and sample size

The present research has used the data of India Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2005

which is a collaborative research project of the University of Maryland, USA and National

Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi. IHDS is conducted across the states and

union territories with the exception of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands

covering 99.9 percent of India’s population. It is a multi-topic survey which has collected a

vast range of information on health, education, employment, economic status, marriage,

fertility, gender relations, and social capital. In addition to socio-economic and demographic

characteristics information have been collected about each and every individual in the

household regarding social network, diseases and disabilities, etc. In the present study,

information on the socioeconomic characteristics and major morbidity of population aged 60

and above is used. The following table gives the sample selection for the present study.

Population Number

Total Households 41,554

Total sample size 215,754

Elderly person 17,904

Elderly women 8,941*

*Hence, the present study is restricted to only elderly women who are aged 60 and above (for more details on sampling see

also Desai et al. (2010)).

Definition of variables

Health variable Predictor variables

Life style disease: Age of the sample of older women population was

a. High Blood Pressure (BP)

b. Heart disease and

c. Diabetes

categorized into two group, 60-69 years and 70 years above

of age.

The place of residence is coded as rural and urban.

Caste: Identification of the social group in modern India is

broadly classified into four groups: Scheduled Castes (SCs),

Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and

other castes (Srinivas, 1957).

The religion of the older women was categorized as Hindu,

Muslim, and others (Christians, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and

others).

The educational level of the older women was defined using

years of schooling and they were grouped into No schooling,

1-4 years, 5-9 years and 10 and above.

Wealth status, an index of economic status (wealth quintile)

for each household is constructed using the principal

components analysis (PCA) based on the household data. The

wealth quintiles are based on 30 assets and the housing

characteristics. Each of the household asset is assigned a

weight (factor score) generated through PCA. The resulting

asset scores are standardized in relation to a normal

distribution with the mean of zero and standard deviation of

one. Then, the values of the wealth index was subsequently

divided into five quintiles – poorest, poorer, middle, richer,

and richest – however, for analytical purpose the bottom two

quintiles (lower 40%) were considered as poor and remaining

three were as non-poor. This classification is consistent with

previous studies (Joe W, et al., 2009).

The marital status of the older women population is grouped

into three categories namely, currently married, widowed and

others (single, sep/div, sp. absent, no gauna).

The family type of the older women’s household is coded

into two categories, namely, nuclear family and joint family.

According to the availability of data, the study measures following three major non-

communicable diseases; High Blood Pressure (BP), Heart disease and Diabetes. A variable

has been computed combining all the diseases considered for analysis in three categories; as

“No LSD”, “One LSD” and “At least two LSD”. Socioeconomic and demographic predictors

such as age of the older women, education, place of residence, etc., have been explained in

the table.

Analytical Approach

In order to identify the factors associated with selected life style diseases among older

women, bi-variate and multivariate analyses have been carried out. Bi-variate analyses were

used to examine the nature of association between LSDs by selected socioeconomic and

demographic characteristics and were tested for statistical significance at 95 percent

confidence interval (P < 0.05) by using χ2 test.

The study has used multinomial logit regression (MLR) to estimate the adjusted effect of

socioeconomic predictors on life style diseases. Further, for better comparison of the results

the coefficients of MLR are converted to adjusted percentages by using multiple

classification analysis (MCA) conversion model.

MCA conversion model formulae:

where:

ai i = 1, 2 : constants.

bij i = 1, 2; j = 1, 2........n : multinomial regression coefficient.

P2 : estimated probability of having LSDs score of one

disease among the older women population.

P3 : estimated probability of having LSDs score of at least

two diseases among the older women population.

P1 : (no LSDs score) is the reference category.

The procedures followed are given stepwise below:

Step 1. Using the regression coefficient and the mean values of independent variables, the

probability is computed as:

where Z is the estimated value of response variables for each variable category.

Step 2. To obtain the percentage values of the estimate, the probability P is multiplied by

100.In this way, the adjusted percentages of the tables are generated.

The study has used SPSS 17 and STATA 11 software programs for all statistical analyses

undertaken.

Results

Figure 1 shows the percent of elderly women suffering from the diseases of longevity. It is

clearly visible that a high proportion of elderly women (38%) suffer from the problem of

blood pressure followed by diabetes (18%) and less than ten percent of them report heart

problems. The figure proves that even the elderly women are not immune from lifestyle

diseases. Though the percent is less than 40% but if we convert it in absolute numbers then it

seeks the attention of policy makers. This would be interesting to see who all these elderly

women are suffering from lifestyle diseases in order to understand whether there is any

influence of socioeconomic factors on the reporting of the diseases.

Table 1 presents the distribution of the study sample by the background characteristics. The

older women population is classified into two age groups: population aged 60-69 years

referred to as older old and population aged 70 years and above comprising the oldest old.

There is a larger share of older old population in the sample (63%) as compared to the oldest

old population (37 percent) With regard to the place of residence, majority (76 percent) of the

older women resides in rural areas The literacy rate in ancient India was very low as 78

percent of the older population is illiterate and only 6 percent of them have received

education for ten and more years. Since women are biologically stronger than male and early

marriage of girl child was very much prevalent in earlier days, a large proportion of women

have to live a life of widow. In our sample, 56 percent of the elderly women were widowed;

The religious compositions of the older women population mirror the distribution of the

general population of India, with the majority of the older women belonging to Hindu (84

percent), followed by Muslim (9 percent) and the rest as the others (7 percent). Similarly, the

caste composition of the older women reflects the highest proportion of OBCs (42 percent),

followed by other castes (33 percent) and SCs/STs (25 percent). The economic status of the

household of elderly women reflects that 63% of them belong to non-poor household

whereas, 37% of them belongs to poor households. The table reflects that, these descriptive

statistics are indicative of the fact that; on the whole, the distribution of sample and un-

weighted sample size for the study is enough to carry the robust statistical analysis, however

in few of the cases the sample is less therefore those variables are not considered for

sophisticated analysis.

Table 2 reflects the distribution of elderly women who reports to suffer from any of the

disease considered for the analysis. In consistency with the above figure, the table shows that

a larger proportion of older women suffers from the problem of blood pressure followed by

diabetes and heart disease. The table depicts that with the increase in the age of women there

is decline in the reporting of blood pressure and this is true for other two diseases as well i.e.

heart disease and diabetes. There is higher percent of elderly women suffering from blood

pressure and diabetes living in rural areas; however it is the other way around for heart

diseases as higher percent of elderly women with heart problems are living in urban areas.

This reflects the influence of living in urban and rural areas as these are the life style diseases.

Among the social and religious groups higher percent of women with blood pressure belongs

to other caste group and Hindu religion which is consistent for other two diseases as well. A

higher percent of women suffering from any of the three ailments belong to illiterate section

of the society. As per the expectation, there is larger concentration of elderly women

suffering from the disease in the economically better off section of the society and this

difference is quite huge as it is 68% and 32% for non-poor and poor women suffering from

blood pressure; 70% and 30% for heart disease and 83% and 17% for diabetic elderly women

in non-poor and poor women respectively. There is higher concentration of women suffering

from blood pressure (65%), heart disease (65%) and diabetes (61%) in joint family. Therefore

the results shows that women suffering from any of the disease under study belong to older

old age group, rural areas, better off section, illiterate and living in joint family.

Table 3 reflects the distribution of elderly women by life style diseases considered for the

analysis (BP, Heart disease and Diabetes). The table shows that the majority of older women

suffer more from at least two diseases; this means the incidence of multiple diseases is quite

common among the elderly women. . The table depicts that with the increase in the age of

women there is decline in the reporting of these diseases of longevity; it may be because of

other health complications that come up as age increases and so the attention is deviated from

these diseases to other complicated morbidities.

Data shows that, rural elderly women are more likely to suffer from lifestyle diseases as

compare to urban counterpart, which is striking because rural people are more physically

active than urban people. Among the social groups, elderly women belonging to other caste

group have reported atleast two LSDs which remains true when we consider any one of the

LSDs. Among religion groups it is the Hindu women who are suffering more from any of

one diseases and this is true in case of at least two diseases. A higher percent of women

suffering from any of the three ailments belong to illiterate section of the society and it is true

in case of elderly women who are suffering with at least two diseases. As per the expectation

there is larger concentration of elderly women suffering from the disease in the economically

better off the society and this difference is quite huge as it is 24 and 22 per cent for poor and

where as it is 76 and 78 per cent for non-poor women suffering from one disease and at least

two diseases respectively. There is higher concentration of women living in joint family for

one disease (56 per cent) and at least two diseases (67 per cent) respectively then their

counterparts. Therefore the results shows that elderly women who belong to older old age

group, rural areas, better off section, illiterate and living in joint family are most sufferers of

these diseases.

Table 4 presents the adjusted percentages (multinomial regression estimates) of the elderly

women by the disease scores and their background characteristics. The score is allotted based

on a person is suffering from LSD or not, and if yes, number of diseases a person is suffering

from out of three LSDs considered for the analysis (High BP, Heart disease and Diabetes).

Further, for better understanding of the results, the scores are classified into three categories:

“No LSD”, “One LSD” and “Atleast two LSD”. Table depicts that in the older old age group,

a considerable percentage of elderly women (19%) are suffering from any one of the

ailments and 12% with at least two of the diseases. And this is holds true for the oldest old

age group. A high percent of elderly women suffering from any one of the diseases (30%)

and at least two diseases (21%) belongs to urban areas. Among the social groups higher

percent of women suffering with both category one LSD and At least two LSD belongs to

others category and followed by OBC. Among the religious groups there is higher percent of

elderly women suffering from at least two diseases are belongs to others category; however it

is the other way around for elderly women suffering from any one of the ailment are belongs

to Muslim category. And a considerable (20%) and (10%) of Hindu elderly women are also

suffering from any one ailment and at least two ailment of diseases respectively. Results

show that the life style diseases are equally prevalent in educated, urban and non-poor section

of the society.

Conclusion

The increase in the magnitude of elderly is so huge that the present century has been termed

as “century of the aged”. This means that there is an urgent need to look into the allocation of

resources as the needs of elderly are different which needs to be met differently. Overall,

results show that life style diseases are being reported by elderly women; however there is a

decline in the reporting of diseases with the increase in the age of elderly women. In other

words, there is less reporting by oldest old women as compared to older old women.

However we suggest two possibilities behind such results; one reason could be that there is

less understanding of various morbidities among oldest old women which often leads to

under reporting. Second, since with increase in age, it is largely believed that health

deteriorates and so there may be less attention paid to the health of the elderly population.

The results also point to the need of separate geriatric hospitals so as to ensure a good health

status to the elderly.

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Table 1: Percentage distribution of study sample by background characteristics, India,

IHDS, 2004-05

Background characteristics Percentage N

Age

Old-old(60-69) 62.61 5488

Oldest-old(70+) 37.39 3453

Residence

Rural 75.80 6320

Urban 24.20 2621

Caste1

SC/ST 25.42 2189

OBC 41.50 3574

Others 33.08 3178

Religion2

Hindu 83.94 7372

Muslim 9.32 829

Others 6.75 740

Education

No schooling 77.63 6757

1-4 Years 7.00 661

5-9 Years 9.14 899

10 and Above 6.23 624

Wealth Status

Poor 37.46 2993

Non-poor 62.54 5687

Marital Status3

Currently married 42.96 3864

Widowed 55.83 4969

Others 1.21 108

Family type

nuclear family 29.31 2682

Joint family 70.69 6259

Total 100 8941

Note: 1. For caste variable, others category includes Brahmin and others.

2. For religion variable, others category includes Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Tribal, Others and None.

3. For marital status variable, others category includes single, sep/div, sp. absent, no gauna.

4. All percentage are taken of valid cases after excluding missing cases.

N= Un-weighted cases.

Source: IHDS, 2004-05.

Table 2: Distribution of elderly women suffering from lifestyle disease across

background characteristics, India, IHDS, 2004-05

Background characteristics BP N Heart N Diabetes N

Age

Old-old(60-69) 63.1 396 53.5 91 64.3 212

Oldest-old(70+) 36.9 274 46.5 79 35.7 121

Residence

Rural 60.7 344 45.9 71 52.2 161

Urban 39.3 326 54.1 99 47.8 172

Caste1

SC/ST 14.3 88 * 18 13.2 42

OBC 39.9 244 24.5 42 37.3 123

Others 45.7 338 63.2 110 49.5 168

Religion2

Hindu 76.9 497 78.4 128 72.4 241

Muslim 9.0 70 * 20 8.6 30

Others 14.1 103 * 22 19.0 62

Education

No schooling 58.0 346 57.8 97 45.6 153

1-4 Years 14.5 116 * 19 13.2 41

5-9 Years 19.3 144 20.0 37 27.9 96

10 and Above 8.2 64 * 17 13.3 43

Wealth Status

Poor 31.7 161 29.5 44 17.0 51

Non-poor 68.3 494 70.5 121 83.0 268

Marital Status3

Currently married 37.0 256 41.1 74 47.7 167

Widowed 62.4 406 58.3 94 51.2 162

Others * 8 * 2 * 4

Family type

Nuclear Family 34.7 217 35.2 59 39.4 135

Joint Family 65.3 453 64.8 111 60.6 198 Note: 1. For caste variable, others category includes Brahmin and others.




*= the cases are very low so percentages are not shown.



Table 3: Distribution of elderly women suffering from lifestyle disease across


Background characteristics No LSD N One LSD N

At least two

LSD N

Age

Older(60-69) 58.70 466 59.97 143 61.17 109

Oldest-old(70+) 41.30 346 40.03 93 38.83 72

Residence

Rural 77.91 600 52.43 113 51.34 85

Urban 22.09 212 47.57 123 48.66 96

Caste1

SC/ST 20.03 173 * 26 * 22

OBC 43.60 328 34.79 82 31.96 54

Others 36.37 311 51.65 128 55.96 105

Religion2

Hindu 86.34 696 80.96 184 65.71 125

Muslim 7.52 66 * 25 * 16

Others 6.13 50 * 27 25.39 40

Education

No schooling 76.54 621 54.75 130 40.90 74

1-4 Years 8.00 63 * 25 18.36 30

5-9 Years 9.19 77 21.95 54 28.28 54

10 and Above 6.28 51 * 27 * 23

Wealth Status

Poor 37.58 297 23.93 49 22.45 37

Non-poor 62.42 478 76.07 179 77.55 137

Marital Status3

Currently married 40.24 319 50.23 125 38.59 72

Widowed 58.32 477 48.93 109 60.50 106

Others * 16 * 2 * 3

Family type

nuclear family 33.22 257 44.07 104 32.81 60

Joint family 66.78 555 55.93 132 67.19 121 Note: 1. For caste variable, others category includes Brahmin and others.



4. The variable “Life style disease” is computed by using three life style diseases namely “High BP” “Heart disease” and

“Diabetes” into three categories 1”No LSD” 2”One LSD” 3”At least two LSD”.


*= the cases are very low so percentages are not shown.



Table 4: Multi-nominal results of life style diseases among elderly women across


Background characteristics No LSD One LSD At least two LSD

Age

Old-old(60-69) 69.22 18.90 11.88

Oldest-old(70+) 67.61 22.39 10.00

Residence

Rural 74.80 17.19 8.01

Urban 49.25 29.71 21.04

Caste1

SC/ST 80.38 12.42 7.20

OBC 67.33 22.15 10.52

Others 61.30 23.72 14.98

Religion2

Hindu 69.46 20.46 10.08

Muslim 69.21 21.83 8.96

Others 57.32 14.89 27.79

Education

No schooling 76.49 17.34 6.17

1-4 Years 69.80 16.23 13.97

5-9 Years 58.59 23.45 17.95

10 and Above 40.05 34.55 25.40

Wealth Status

Poor 80.21 12.79 6.99

Non-poor 62.06 24.41 13.52

Marital Status3

Currently married 68.80 19.38 11.82

Widowed 68.02 21.86 10.13

Others 76.24 14.43 9.33

Family type

Nuclear family 69.58 19.43 11.00

Joint family 68.45 20.36 11.20 Note: 1. For caste variable, others category includes Brahmin and others.



4. The variable “Life style disease” is computed by using three life style diseases namely “High BP” “Heart

disease” and “Diabetes” into three categories 1”No LSD” 2”One LSD” 3”At least two LSD”.



Fig1: Disease of Longitivity and elderly women, India, 2004-05

are lifestyle diseases a matter of concern for elderly...

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