The Role of Socio-Economic Inequality in Physical Immobility Among Older Adults: Did the Scenario Changed from 2004-05 to 2017-18?

Abstract

Background: Despite declining overall growth rate of the population across the world, the number of older adults is rising. To understand the needs and problems faced by older adults, it is imperative to understand the demographic and socio-economic conditions of the individuals. On these lines, physical immobility among older adults is attributed to various risk factors. The living arrangement is found to be one of the critical risk factors along with economic dependency in explaining physical immobility among older adults in India. Therefore, this study is an attempt to explore the role of socio-economic inequality in physical immobility among older adults in India. Methods: This study utilized 60th and 75th rounds of data from the National Sample Survey conducted in 2004-05 and 2017-18, with a sample size of 34,831 and 42,762 older adults aged 60 and above, respectively. Further, the study decomposes the concentration index using regression-based decomposition technique to understand the relative contribution of various socio-economic factors to the physical immobility of older adults.Results: Result found a decline of 0.6 points in the prevalence of physical immobility from 2004-05 to 2017-18. The sharpest increase was observed in Puducherry (9.9%) followed by Chandigarh (7.6%), and decline was witnessed in Nagaland (9.2%) followed by Lakshadweep (6.4%) and Delhi (5.3%). Physical immobility was more concentrated among well-off older adults in 2017-18 as compared to in 2004-05. Living alone, chronic diseases, and rich wealth status contributed significantly to explaining the observed socio-economic inequality in physical immobility.Conclusions: Based on the observations made on the socio-economic inequality in physical immobility among older adults in India, some health interventions are required to cater to the needs of older adults.