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Association between Single and Multiple Chronic Conditions and Depression among Older Population in India: A Comparative Study between Men and Women

Trupti Meher, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Muhammad T, Ph.D. Scholar
Shivani Gharge, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

Chronic diseases connected with late life depression have become a serious menace to the physical and psychological health of elderly population. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to estimate the prevalence of depression and to explore the association of specific chronic condition as well as multi-morbidity with depression among older population aged 60 years and above, using data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave 1, conducted during 2017-18 in India. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to fulfill the objectives. The overall prevalence of depression among older population in India was 8.7 percent. Older women had shown a greater prevalence rate of depression than the older men. Among chronic conditions, hypertension, stroke and bone-related diseases were found to be significantly associated with depression in case of both men and women. Older individuals with greater number of chronic illnesses have a higher risk of depression and the risk is proportional to the number of chronic conditions. This signifies the need for identification of depressive symptoms at an early stage by focusing on elderly suffering from chronic conditions and educating family members and the community about effective treatments and counselling.

Keywords: Health and morbidity, Older adults

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P12.