Health Status, Morbidity Pattern and Treatment Seeking Behaviour among Elderly in India: Evidences from 60th Round of National Smaple Surveys Data

The present paper aims to study health status of elderly, their morbid condition, perceptions about their own health and treatment seeking behaviour using data based on 60th Round of the National Sample Survey Organization and Census of India 2001. Bi-variate and multi-variate techniques were used to find out the factors affecting health condition and health care utilization of the elderly in India.
The elderly population in India as per the 2001 Census data constitute around 7.4 percent and their proportion to the total population is gradually increasing. The study showed that widows/widowers are having relatively poor health status as compared to currently married elderly. Monthly Percapita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE) is positively related to state of health. Dependency during old age has significant negative impact on the health of the elderly. Male elderly used to take more treatment as compared to their female counterparts. It may be by due to culture of silence and low status of the female elderly. Educational level, occupation and MPCE are found to be important determinant of treatment seeking behaviour.