Self Reported Health Status and its Determinants among Elderly Widows in Puducherry, India

BACKGROUND: Aging of population is a worldwide phenomenon of the 21(st) century, which leads to many socioeconomic consequences including their health status. Hence, this study tries to assess the self-reported health status (SRHS) of elderly widows (60+ years) and its principal determinants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 360 elderly widows from Puducherry district, 260 urban and 130 from rural areas. The sociodemographic information and the self-rated health status of elderly widows were collected with semi-structured interview schedule. Data were analyzed adopting descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis making use IBM-SPSS software 22 version. RESULTS: Thirty-seven percent each of the elderly widows felt to be in “fair” and “good” health status, respectively, whereas 26% of them stated to be living with “poor” health status. Results of multinomial regression analysis showed that multinomial regression analysis showed that the odds of “poor” and “fair” SRHS (as against “good” SRHS) of elderly widows are conspicuously higher among those who are suffering from 2 or more chronic morbidities, whereas such odds are significantly lower among those who have 2 or more sons, educated up to middle school level and above, and who have higher functional ability. Urban residence, middle-old ages (66–76), and moderate monthly family income (Rs. 3001–9000) have also exhibited some net effects on the “poor” and/or “fair” SRHS of elderly widows. CONCLUSION: Chronic morbidity, having son(s), education, economic status, functional ability, and urban residence are found to be the major determinants of the SRHS among elderly widows.