Document Detail


AIDS and declining support for dependent elderly people in Africa: retrospective analysis using demographic and health surveys.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20554660     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVES: To determine the relation between the HIV/AIDS epidemic and support for dependent elderly people in Africa.
DESIGN: Retrospective analysis using data from Demographic and Health Surveys.
SETTING: 22 African countries between 1991 and 2006.
PARTICIPANTS: 123,176 individuals over the age of 60.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We investigated how three measures of the living arrangements of older people have been affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic: the number of older individuals living alone (that is, the number of unattended elderly people); the number of older individuals living with only dependent children under the age of 10 (that is, in missing generation households); and the number of adults age 18-59 (that is, prime age adults) per household where an older person lives.
RESULTS: An increase in annual AIDS mortality of one death per 1000 people was associated with a 1.5% increase in the proportion of older individuals living alone (95% CI 1.2% to 1.9%) and a 0.4% increase in the number of older individuals living in missing generation households (95% CI 0.3% to 0.6%). Increases in AIDS mortality were also associated with fewer prime age adults in households with at least one older person and at least one prime age adult (P<0.001). These findings suggest that in our study countries, which encompass 70% of the sub-Saharan population, the HIV/AIDS epidemic could be responsible for 582,200-917,000 older individuals living alone without prime age adults and 141,000-323,100 older individuals being the sole caregivers for young children.
CONCLUSIONS: Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic might be responsible for a large number of older people losing their support and having to care for young children. This population has previously been under-recognised. Efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS deaths could have large "spillover" benefits for elderly people in Africa.
Authors:
Tim Kautz; Eran Bendavid; Jay Bhattacharya; Grant Miller
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural     Date:  2010-06-16
Journal Detail:
Title:  BMJ (Clinical research ed.)     Volume:  340     ISSN:  1756-1833     ISO Abbreviation:  BMJ     Publication Date:  2010  
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-06-17     Completed Date:  2010-07-01     Revised Date:  2012-03-06    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8900488     Medline TA:  BMJ     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  c2841     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. tkautz@uchicago.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adolescent
Adult
Africa / epidemiology
Aged
Family Characteristics
Female
HIV Infections / mortality,  rehabilitation*
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Residence Characteristics
Retrospective Studies
Social Support*
Socioeconomic Factors
Young Adult
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
K01-AI084582/AI/NIAID NIH HHS; K01-HD053504/HD/NICHD NIH HHS; K02-AG024237/AG/NIA NIH HHS; P30-AG017253/AG/NIA NIH HHS; T32-HS000028/HS/AHRQ HHS
Comments/Corrections
Comment In:
BMJ. 2010;341:c4169   [PMID:  20685789 ]

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