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Healthy life expectancy and the correlates of self-rated health in an ageing population in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2014

MD. ISMAIL TAREQUE ,
TOWFIQUA MAHFUZA ISLAM ,
KAZUO KAWAHARA ,
MAKIKO SUGAWA  and
YASUHIKO SAITO
MD. ISMAIL TAREQUE*
Affiliation:
Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
TOWFIQUA MAHFUZA ISLAM
Affiliation:
Department of Health Policy Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
KAZUO KAWAHARA
Affiliation:
Department of Health Policy Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
MAKIKO SUGAWA
Affiliation:
Department of Health Policy Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Science, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
YASUHIKO SAITO
Affiliation:
Advanced Research Institute for the Sciences and Humanities, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan. School of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan. Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore.
*
Address for correspondence: Md. Ismail Tareque, Department of Population Science and Human Resource Development, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi-6205, Bangladesh E-mail: tareque_pshd@yahoo.com or tarequemi_pops@ru.ac.bd
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Abstract

Ageing is going to be a major problem in Bangladesh given its population size, scarce resources, existing poverty, insufficient health facilities and lack of a social security system. This paper examines how many years older people expect to be in good health, and what are the correlates of self-rated health (SRH). The data used in this study come from 896 older people aged 60 years and above from Rajshahi district in Bangladesh and from United Nations’ projected population figures. Results show that individuals at age 60 expected about 41 per cent of their remaining life to be in good health, while individuals at age 80 expected only 21 per cent of their remaining life to be in good health. Having exercised during the six months prior to the survey was the single most important correlate of SRH (odds ratio=5.49; confidence interval 4.03–7.47; without any adjustment). While rural–urban differentials and some health decline in old age are inevitable, four factors (exercise behaviour, sufficiency of income, physical limitations and facing abusive behaviour) are to a certain extent modifiable and therefore provide the potential for improving SRH and healthy life expectancy in Rajshahi district, Bangladesh.

Keywords

healthy life expectancyself-rated healtholder peopleBangladesh
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 5 , May 2015 , pp. 1075 - 1094
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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