Understanding Morbidity Gap in India: Role of Lifestyle and Socioeconomic Factors using LASI (2017-18) Data

Himanshu Jaiswal, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Suryakant Yadav, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)
Chandan Kumar, International Institute for Population Sciences, India

Multimorbidity has emerged as a crucial public health challenge globally, particularly among ageing populations. Multimorbidity, also known as multiple long-term conditions (MLTC), is defined as the simultaneous existence of two or more chronic diseases. Using, data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), the study sheds light on the factors explaining the prevalence of single as well as multimorbidity in older adults greater than 45 years and their contributions to the morbidity gaps explaining sex differences in single/multimorbidity prevalence. Multinomial logistic regressions were applied to the trichotomous variable of morbidity status to examine the risk factors for multimorbidity in the Indian population 45 years and above. A decomposition method has been used, to check the mean difference in the disease prevalence between men and women. Factors such as age, gender, education, income level, and rural-urban residence were found to be associated with higher rates of multimorbidity. The results of the decomposition analyses revealed that the contextual factors showed endowment effects to the morbidity gaps between men and women for a change in their morbidity status from no morbidity to (1) one morbidity, (2) one and more morbidities, and (3) to two and more morbidities (multimorbidity), respectively.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Decomposition analysis, Population Ageing, Longitudinal studies

See paper.