title: Socio-demographic patterns of disability among older adult populations of low-income and middle-income countries: results from World Health Survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to quantify disability prevalence among older adults of low- and middle-income countries, and measure socio-demographic distribution of disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  World Health Survey data included 53,447 adults aged 50 or older from 43 low- and middle-income countries. Disability was a binary classification, based on a composite score derived from self-reported functional difficulties. Socio-demographic variables included sex, age, marital status, area of residence, education level, and household economic status. A multivariate Poisson regression model with robust variance was used to assess associations between disability and socio-demographic variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 33.3 % (95 % CI 32.2-34.4 %) of older adults reported disability. Disability was 1.5 times more common in females, and was positively associated with increasing age. Divorced/separated/widowed respondents reported higher disability rates in all but one study country, and education and wealth levels were inversely associated with disability rates. Urban residence tended to be advantageous over rural. Country-level datasets showed disparate patterns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Effective approaches aimed at disability prevention and improved disability management are warranted, including the inclusion of equity considerations in monitoring and evaluation activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland. hosseinpoora@who.int.
authors.forename: Ahmad Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Hosseinpoor
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bergen
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nenad
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kostanjsek
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kowal
authors.affiliation: Department of Ageing and Life Course, World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Officer
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems, World Health Organization, 20, Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva 27, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Somnath
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterji
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Aged; Developing countries; Disabled persons; Prevalence; Socioeconomic factors