EFFECT OF LIVING ARRANGEMENT ON THE HEALTH STATUS OF ELDERLY IN INDIA

Figures & data

TABLE 1  Distribution of elderly (≥60 years old) by living arrangement and selected characteristics, India, 1998–1999.

Characteristics	Male	Female	Total	Total number
Living arrangement
Living alone	1.7	4.5	3.0	1196
Living with family	98.3	95.5	97.0	38,498
Socio-economic and demographic factors
Age
60–69	60.1	64.6	62.2	24,706
70–79	29.7	25.3	27.6	10,953
≥80	10.2	10.1	10.2	4036
Marital status
Married	81.3	40.6	62.0	24,612
Separated/widowed/divorced/deserted	17.4	58.7	37.0	14,689
Never married	1.3	0.7	1.0	395
Education
Illiterate	49.8	82.3	65.2	25,869
Literate, <middle school complete	31.5	13.7	23.0	9139
Middle school complete	5.6	1.7	3.7	1486
High school complete or more	13.1	2.4	8.0	3169
Residence
Urban	23.3	25.1	24.2	9598
Rural	76.7	74.9	75.8	30,096
Religion
Hindu	82.4	82.6	82.5	32,760
Muslim	10.7	10.6	10.6	4221
Others	6.9	6.8	6.8	652
Caste/tribe
Scheduled caste	18.2	17.4	17.8	6775
Scheduled tribe	8.4	8.0	8.2	3108
Other backward class	34.3	34.3	34.3	13,027
Others	39.1	40.3	39.7	15,082
Standard of living ^a
Low	30.1	32.3	31.1	12,226
Medium	46.9	44.7	45.8	17,991
High	23.1	23.0	23.0	9043
Environmental factors
Type of house ^b
Pucca	31.5	33.2	32.3	12,810
Semi-pucca/kachcha	68.5	66.8	67.7	26,812
Separate kitchen
Yes	55.1	55.8	55.4	21,968
No	44.9	44.2	44.6	17,676
Drinking water
Purified	30.7	32.9	31.8	12,604
Non-purified	69.3	67.1	68.2	27,087
Cooking fuel ^c
Clean	21.9	23.5	22.6	30,700
Unclean	78.1	76.5	77.4	8984
Behavioural factors
Smokes tobacco
No	61.7	94.7	77.3	30,676
Yes	38.3	5.3	22.7	8991
Chews tobacco
No	62.5	75.0	68.4	27,152
Yes	37.5	25.0	31.6	12,531
Drinks alcohol
No	81.4	96.9	88.8	35,222
Yes	18.6	3.1	11.2	4455
Number of elderly ^d	20,849	18,846	39,694	39,695
^aStandard of living index (SLI) is provided in the dataset. The index was constructed using information on household assets (for more information on the index, see International Institute for Population Sciences & ORC Macro 2000).
^b Pucca houses are made from high-quality materials, i.e. bricks, tiles, cement and concrete, throughout including roof, walls and floor; kachcha houses are made from mud, thatch or other low-quality materials. Semi-pucca houses are made from a combination.
^cClean fuels: kerosene, petroleum gas, bio-gas or electricity; unclean fuels: wood, dung, crop residues, coal/coke/lignite, charcoal or others.
^dNumber of elderly varies slightly for individual variables depending on the number of missing values.

TABLE 2  Reported prevalence of asthma, tuberculosis, malaria and jaundice among the elderly (≥60 years old) in India by living arrangement and selected characteristics, 1998–1999.

Characteristics	Asthma	Tuberculosis	Malaria	Jaundice
Living arrangement	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
Living alone	14.5	2.7	10.2	2.3
Living with family	10.3	1.3	4.0	0.8
Socio-economic and demographic factors
Age	p < 0.0001	p = 0.112	p = 0.533	p = 0.732
60–69	9.2	1.3	4.2	0.9
70–79	12.4	1.6	4.0	0.8
≥80	12.3	1.4	4.0	0.9
Sex	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p = 0.465	p = 0.011
Male	12.1	1.8	4.1	1.0
Female	8.6	1.0	4.2	0.7
Marital status	p = 0.152	p = 0.391	0.160	p = 0.194
Married	10.6	1.4	4.3	0.9
Separated/widowed/divorced/deserted	10.0	1.3	4.0	0.8
Never married	9.4	1.0	2.8	0.3
Education	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p = 0.031
Illiterate	10.8	1.3	4.7	0.9
Literate, <middle school complete	10.9	1.8	3.9	0.8
Middle school complete	8.1	0.9	2.5	0.5
High school complete or more	6.9	0.7	1.2	0.4
Residence	p < 0.0001	p = 0.013	p < 0.0001	p = 0.001
Urban	8.3	1.1	1.9	0.6
Rural	11.1	1.5	4.9	0.9
Religion	p = 0.007	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p = 0.385
Hindu	10.4	1.3	4.5	0.9
Muslim	11.5	2.3	2.4	0.9
Others	9.1	1.0	3.3	0.6
Caste/tribe	p = 0.003	p = 0.028	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
Scheduled caste	11.4	1.5	4.6	0.8
Scheduled tribe	10.7	1.7	9.9	1.5
Other backward class	10.2	1.4	4.0	0.8
Others	9.8	1.2	3.1	0.8
Standard of living	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
Low	12.1	2.0	6.2	1.0
Medium	10.6	1.3	4.0	1.0
High	7.4	0.7	1.8	0.5
Environmental factors
Type of house	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
Pucca	8.9	0.9	2.1	0.5
Semi-pucca/kachcha	11.1	1.6	5.1	1.0
Separate kitchen	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
Yes	9.1	1.2	3.0	0.7
No	12.0	1.6	5.6	1.0
Drinking water	p = 0.009	p < 0.0001	p = 0.087	p = 0.197
Purified	9.9	1.1	4.1	0.8
Non-purified	10.6	1.5	4.4	0.9
Cooking fuel	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
Clean	7.6	0.8	1.7	0.5
Unclean	11.2	1.6	4.9	0.9
Behavioural factors
Smokes tobacco	p < 0.0001	p = 0.234	p = 0.001	p < 0.0001
No	9.7	1.4	4.0	0.7
Yes	12.8	1.5	4.8	1.2
Chews tobacco	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001
No	9.7	1.2	3.5	0.7
Yes	11.9	1.8	5.6	1.1
Drinks alcohol	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p < 0.0001	p = 0.005
No	10.2	1.3	3.9	0.8
Yes	12.1	2.0	6.0	1.2
Number of elderly	4126	549	1651	336
Note: For variable definitions, see Table 1.
All p values are chi-square p values.

TABLE 3  Unadjusted and adjusted effects [ORs, 95 per cent CIs] of living arrangement and other characteristics on health status among the elderly (≥60 years old), India, 1998–1999.

	Asthma [ORs and 95 per cent CIs]		Tuberculosis [ORs and 95 per cent CIs]		Malaria [ORs and 95 per cent CIs]		Jaundice [ORs and 95 per cent CIs]
Characteristics	Unadjusted	Adjusted	Unadjusted	Adjusted	Unadjusted	Adjusted	Unadjusted	Adjusted
Living arrangement
With family^R	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]	1.00 [Reference]
Alone	1.51 (1.28–1.78)**	1.74 (1.46–2.07)**	2.04 (1.42–2.94)**	2.76 (1.91–4.01)**	2.80 (2.31–3.40)**	2.50 (2.04–3.08)**	2.98 (2.01–4.42)**	2.90 (1.91–4.42)**
Socio-economic and demographic factors
Age
60–69^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
70–79		1.26 (1.17–1.36)**		1.05 (0.86–1.28)		0.98 (0.87–1.11)		0.90 (0.69–1.17)
80 and above		1.20 (1.08–1.34)*		0.88 (0.65–1.19)		1.01 (0.85–1.21)		1.08 (0.74–1.58)
Sex
Male^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Female		0.58 (0.53–0.63)**		0.43 (0.34–0.54)**		1.09 (0.96–1.24)		0.86 (0.65–1.14)
Marital status
Currently married^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Separated/deserted/ divorced/widowed		0.94[0.88–1.01]		0.90[0.75–1.07]		0.93[0.84–1.03]		0.86[0.69–1.08]
Never married		0.89[0.63–1.24]		0.73[0.28–1.93]		0.64[0.35–1.17]		0.40[0.08–2.09]
Education
Illiterate^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Literate, <middle school complete		0.94 (0.87–1.03)		1.32 (1.07–1.63)*		0.98 (0.86–1.12)		1.02 (0.77–1.36)
Middle school complete		0.76 (0.62–0.93)*		0.77 (0.44–1.35)		0.80 (0.57–1.13)		0.59 (0.27–1.30)
High school complete or more		0.62 (0.53–0.73)**		0.53 (0.32–0.88)*		0.45 (0.32–0.64)**		0.68 (0.37–1.23)
Residence
Urban^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Rural		1.06 (0.95–1.18)		0.81 (0.61–1.06)		1.41 (1.16–1.71)*		0.96 (0.66–1.39)
Religion
Hindu^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Muslim		0.98 (0.87–1.11)		1.66 (1.26–2.20)**		0.67 (0.53–0.84)*		1.07 (0.71–1.60)
Others		0.89 (0.77–1.02)		0.70 (0.46–1.06)		0.79 (0.63–0.99)		0.67 (0.39–1.15)
Caste/tribe
Scheduled caste^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Scheduled tribe		0.94 (0.82–1.08)		1.16 (0.83–1.63)		1.95 (1.64–2.30)**		1.68 (1.12–2.51)*
Other backward class		0.94 (0.86–1.04)		0.97 (0.76–1.25)		0.93 (0.81–1.08)		1.00 (0.72–1.41)
Others		0.97 (0.88–1.07)		0.85 (0.65–1.10)		0.92 (0.79–1.08)		1.25 (0.89–1.75)
Standard of living
Low^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Medium		0.85[0.79–0.92]**		0.65[0.54–0.78]**		0.62[0.56–0.69]**		1.03[0.81–1.30]
High		0.57[0.52–0.63]**		0.33[0.25–0.43]**		0.27[0.23–0.33]**		0.49[0.34–0.70]**
Environmental factors
Type of house
Pucca^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Semi-pucca/kachcha		1.02 (0.93–1.12)		1.26 (0.98–1.63)		1.60 (1.37–1.87)**		1.69 (1.20–2.37)*
Separate kitchen
Yes^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
No		1.22 (1.13–1.31)**		1.17 (1.01–1.42)**		1.42 (1.28–1.59)**		1.12 (0.88–1.42)
Drinking water
Purified^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Non-purified		0.93 (0.86–1.00)**		1.24 (1.00–1.53)*		0.72 (0.65–0.81)**		0.89 (0.69–1.14)
Cooking fuel
Clean^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Unclean		1.37 (1.24–1.52)**		1.33 (1.01–1.76)*		1.98 (1.65–2.38)**		1.16 (0.81–1.66)
Behavioural factors
Smokes tobacco
No^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Yes		1.36[1.27–1.47]**		1.08[0.89–1.31]		1.21[1.08–1.35]		1.57[1.25–1.98]**
Chews tobacco
No^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Yes		1.26[1.17–1.34]**		1.47[1.24–1.75]**		1.65[1.50–1.83]**		1.59[1.28–1.98]**
Drinks alcohol
No^R		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]		1.00 [Reference]
Yes		1.03 (0.92–1.14)		1.35 (1.05–1.76)**		1.08 (0.93–1.25)		1.00 (0.71–1.40)
Number of elderly		37,043		37,040		37,041		37,036
Note: For variable definitions, see Table 1.
^RReference category; significance level: *p < 0.01; **p < 0.001.
Dependent variables: suffering from asthma—yes = 1 and no = 0; suffering from tuberculosis—yes = 1 and no = 0; suffering from malaria—yes = 1 and no = 0; suffering from jaundice—yes = 1 and no = 0.