Association of Elder Abuse, Crime Victimhood and Perceived Neighbourhood Safety with Major Depression Among Older Adults in India: a Cross-sectional Study Using Data from the LASI Baseline Survey (2017-2018)

Overview

Journal BMJ Open

Specialty General Medicine

Date 2021 Dec 15

PMID 34907072

Citations 18

Authors

T Muhammad

Trupti Meher

T V Sekher

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: The study aims to explore the associations of elder abuse, crime victimhood and perceived safety with depression among older adults and examine the interactive effects of sex and place of residence in those associations.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a large survey data.

Setting And Participants: The study used data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India wave 1 (2017-2018). The effective sample size was 31 464 older adults (aged 60 years or older).

Primary And Secondary Outcome Measures: The outcome variable was major depression, calculated using Short Form Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Descriptive statistics along with bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to fulfil the objectives.

Results: 5.22% of the older adults (n=1587) experienced abuse in the past 1 year. 1.33% of the older individuals (n=402) were victims of a violent crime, and 14.30% (n=1886) perceived an unsafe neighbourhood. Also, 8.67% of the older adults (n=2657) were suffering from depression. Older adults who were abused had 2.5 odds of suffering from depression (adjusted OR (AOR): 2.47, CI: 1.96 to 3.10) and victims of a violent crime were 84% more likely to be depressed (AOR: 1.84, CI: 1.15 to 2.95) compared with their counterparts. Besides, older individuals who perceived as living in unsafe neighbourhood were 61% more likely to be depressed (AOR: 1.61, CI: 1.34 to 1.93) compared with their counterparts. In the interaction analysis, older women who reported abuse had higher odds of suffering from depression (AOR: 3.27; CI: 2.34 to 4.57) compared with older men who were not abused. Similar result was found in older adults reporting abuse and residing in rural areas (AOR: 3.01, CI: 2.22 to 4.07) compared with those urban residents reporting no abuse.

Conclusions: Healthcare providers should pay more attention to the mental health implications of elder abuse, crime victimhood and perceived safety to grasp the underlying dynamics of the symptomology of late-life depression.

Citing Articles

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An J, Xia C, Xu J, Li W, Ding J Front Public Health. 2024; 12:1405561.

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Understanding healthy ageing in India: insights from multivariate regression trees.

Das A, Dhillon P Aging Clin Exp Res. 2024; 36(1):158.

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Natural and human-made disaster and associated health outcomes among community-dwelling older adults in India: Findings from LASI, 2017-18.

Muhammad T, Pai M, Maurya C, Srivastava S, Kumar M PLoS One. 2024; 19(7):e0307371.

PMID: 39024275 PMC: 11257249. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307371.

Interaction between depressive symptoms and obesity-related anthropometric measures on multimorbidity among community-dwelling older adults: evidence from India.

Ahmed W, Muhammad T, Irshad C BMC Public Health. 2024; 24(1):402.

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Goldman A, Bea M J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2023; 79(4).

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