Self-rated health among older adults in India: Gender specific findings from National Sample Survey

Introduction The self-rated health (SRH) is a widely adopted indicator of overall health. The sponge hypothesis suggests that predictive power of SRH is stronger among women compared to men. To gain a better understanding of how gender influences SRH, this study examined whether and what determinants of gender disparity exist current self-rated health (SRH_current) and change in SRH (SRH_change) among older adults in Indian setting. Materials and methods We used cross-sectional data from the 75th National Sample Survey Organizations (NSSO), collected from July 2017 to June 2018. The analytical sample constitutes 42,759 older individuals aged 60 years or older with 21,902 older men and 20,857 older women (eliminating two non-binary individuals). Outcome measures include two variables of poor/ worse SRH status (SRH_current and SRH_change). We have calculated absolute gaps in the prevalence of poor SRH_current and worse SRH_change by background characteristics. We carried out binary logistic regression models to examine the predictors of poor SRH_current and worse SRH_change among older adults. Results The overall absolute gender gap in poor SRH_current was 3.27% and it was 0.58% in worse SRH_change. Older women had significantly higher odds of poor SRH_current [AOR = 1.09; CI = 0.99, 1.19] and worse SRH_change [AOR = 1.09; CI = 1.02, 1.16] compared to older men. Older adults belonging to middle-aged, oldest-old, economically dependent, not working, physically immobile, suffering from chronic diseases, belonging to Muslim religion, and Eastern region have found to have higher odds of poor SRH_current and worse SRH_change. Educational attainments showed lower odds of have poor SRH_current and worse SRH_change compared to those with no education. Respondents belonging to richest income quintile and those who were not covered by any health insurance, belonging to Schedule caste, OBC, Western and Southern regions are found to have lower odds of poor SRH_current and worse SRH_change. Compared to those in the urban residence, respondents from rural residence [AOR = 1.09; CI = 1.02, 1.16] had higher odds of worse SRH_change. Conclusions Supporting the sponge hypothesis, a clear gender gap was observed in poor current SRH and worse change in SRH among older adults in India with a female disadvantage. We further found lower socioeconomic and health conditions and lack of resources as determinants of poor current SRH and its worse change, which is crucial to address the challenge of the older people’s health and their perception of well-being.