180360
Determinants of health status among the elderly population in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia: Legacy of the Past?
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Mary C. McEniry, PhD
,
Centers for Demography of Health & Aging/Demography & Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
During the 1930s-1960s mortality dramatically declined in many countries of the developing world primarily due to public health interventions and improved medical technology. This decline may have created a larger pool of individuals who survived poor childhood conditions. If hypotheses regarding the importance of early life exposures on adult health have merit, the health of older adults from these cohorts may be unduly influenced by early childhood conditions. We examine this conjecture by comparing cohorts born during rapid mortality decline of the 1930s-1940s due to public health interventions with those born during periods which (1) experienced a more graded and earlier mortality decline and where the reasons for mortality decline were more due to improvements in standard of living and (2) showed little or no mortality decline during the early twentieth century. We select a sample of adults 60 years and older from major studies on aging in Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico-MHAS, SABE, Puerto Rico-PREHCO, Costa Rica-CRELES), Asia (China-CLHLS, Indonesia-IFLS) and estimate the effects of early childhood conditions (health, SES) on adult health (chronic conditions--diabetes, heart disease, obesity) controlling for adult SES, adult risk factors (smoking, exercise) using multivariate models. If our conjecture has merit (1) we expect to find stronger effects of early childhood conditions on adult health status in cohorts born during periods of rapid mortality decline primarily due to public health interventions; (2) public health policy will need to address the health needs of these cohorts as they age in the next 20-30 years.
Learning Objectives: 1. Analyze the conjecture that the rapid mortality decline of the 1930s-1960s due primarily to public health interventions and improved medical technology in the developing world may have created a larger pool of individuals who survived poor childhood conditions and that these past conditions have strongly influenced elderly health.
2. Discuss the impact that these results will have on public health policy for the next 20-30 years if the conjecture has merit.
Keywords: Aging, Developing Countries
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have all the required professional qualifications and am the sole person involved in the research presented.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
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