Social Ties and the Prevalence of Multimorbidity among the Elderly Population in Selected States of India

Sree Sanyal , Jawaharlal Nehru University

Research in ageing often highlights the age-related health dimension more than the psycho-social characteristics of the elderly, which also influences and challenges the health outcomes. The study aims to evaluate the influence of social ties on the prevalence of multimorbidity among the elderly population in the selected states of India from Building Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India (BKPAI) data, 2011 and using multivariate analysis and predicted probability for multinomial regression for methodology. Research shows, the female oldest old (80+), from ‘Others’ in Caste, Christian in religion, widowed, having less than 5 years of education completed, ever worked, highest wealth quintile, urban Kerala are more associated and the old who are socially connected through family visits, public gatherings, gets support in decision making, who prefers to spend their later years with son and spouse only, but stays alone shows lesser prevalence of multimorbidity. In conclusion, received and perceived social ties from associated neighborhood in the older days, facilitates better health and wellbeing of the elderly.

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 Presented in Session P2. Poster Session Ageing, Health and Mortality