Abstract
The elderly constitute 8.6% of the population in India, vulnerable to severe health issues, especially multimorbidity. Over 12% of pre-elderly and elderly in India have two chronic health anomalies, and nearly 5% have three or more chronic health problems. The study utilizes the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI, 2017-19) – a cross-sectional population-based data on health conditions of people aged 45 years and above. The analysis is made using multinomial logit regression models. The findings from the Relative Risk Ratios (RRR) show that respondents with obesity, residing in rural areas, from the performer and front-runner states, are more prone to multimorbidity. The ageing population with lower household income and visiting both private and public healthcare centres is at the highest risk of multimorbidities. Further, individuals who have completed secondary school are more prone than those who are less educated. Pre-elderly and elderly whose parents hold a medical history of multimorbidity are at higher odds of experiencing the same at the later stage of their life span. The findings of our paper aim to redress the structural problems attached to the old age population in India. Since the demographic structure of India is changing along with higher incidences of multimorbidity, the paper highlights the important determinants of better policy-making for the elderly. The strategy should be more confined to correcting the early age incidences, including the issues with the pre-elderly, to better address the challenges of the elderly population in India for future generations.
Presenters
Pragya TanejaPhD Scholar, Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute Of Technology Roorkee, Uttar Pradesh, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Economic and Demographic Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Elderly, LASI, NCDs, Pre-elderly, Polymorbidity
