Association between multimorbidity and disability among older adults of Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: The prevalence of disability (including physical and mental) among older adults is poorly studied at the community level in India. Understanding disability pattern is important to study and develop an intervention for healthy ageing. This study aims to uncover the significant factors affecting disability. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 500 individuals in Varanasi district aged 50 years and above was conducted, using multistage simple random sampling technique from December 2017 to April 2018. Ethical consent was taken before the interview. WHO-DAS 12-item was used as the outcome measure whereas, demographic, health and socioeconomic, and lifestyle risk factor were the predictor variables. Descriptive analysis was performed to assess the pattern of mean disability score, whereas linear regression analysis was performed to obtain an important predictor of disability among the study population. Results: WHODAS mean disability score was 41, which increased with age and was higher among females. Those with multimorbidity reported higher disability score. Further regression results showed that poor SRH, having multimorbidity, living in rural areas and engaging in an unhealthy lifestyle with risky behavior were positively associated with disability among older adults in the study population. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the view that disability is sensitive to multimorbidity along with other health risk factors. Higher disability reflected a situation of social discrimination where older adults, particularly females, were found in a worse situation.