Prevalence and correlates of elder abuse: A cross-sectional, community-based study from rural Puducherry

Background. Elder abuse is a neglected problem and needs to be addressed to improve the quality of life (QoL) of the elderly. We aimed to study the correlates of elder abuse in rural Puducherry. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional, community-based study among all the elderly people (60 years and above), from one of the four villages of a rural primary health centre in Puducherry. Participants were contacted at their homes. After obtaining consent, data were collected using (i) a structured, pre-tested questionnaire on sociodemographic details; (ii) elder abuse using the Hwalek-Sengstock Elder Abuse Screening Test; and (iii) QoL using WHO QoL-BREF. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify predictors of elder abuse. Results. Of the 243 elderly individuals studied, 63% were women. The prevalence of elder abuse was 50.2%. On multivariable analysis, elderly with higher education status were found to have lower odds for suffering from abuse (primary education odds ratio [OR] 0.39 [0.18-0.84]; middle school OR 0.35 [0.14-0.86]; high school OR 0.08 [0.01-0.4]) compared to those with no formal education and those above 80 years of age were found to have higher odds for abuse (OR 3.02 [1.1-7.9]) compared to those <80 years, after adjusting for confounders such as sex, socioeconomic status, marital status and living arrangement. Conclusion. Half the elderly in our sample suffered from abuse. The higher age group and absence of formal education emerged as independent predictors of elder abuse.