Association of social participation with physical and mental health status among Indian adults

Introductions

Social participation in different activities for individual older adult people increases the quality of life. But sometimes their age-related physical ailments and their background socio-demographic characteristics create barriers to participation in different societal activities. Little is known about what types of health and background conditions affect social participation in India. Therefore, the study inspects the prospective association between low social participation and different variables based on health and background strata among Indian people aged ≥45 years.

Methods

The current study applied cross-sectional data from the first wave (2017-18) of LASI. The main purpose of the survey was to provide knowledge about the health, well-being, and socio-economic condition of Indian middle-aged and older adults. A sample of 55,449 middle-aged and older adults was viewed for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression models were estimated to find the odds of low social participation over explanatory variables.

Results

In this study, the likelihood of low social participation was positively associated with the risk of having low Activities in Daily Living [AOR: 1.16, CI: 1.05-1.27] and cognitive impairment [AOR:1.69, CI:1.55-1.84]. The likelihood of low social participation was notably higher among those who revealed the following health conditions, i.e., bone/joint surgery [AOR:1.28, CI:1.02-1.59], feeling depressed [AOR:1.15, CI:1.06-1.24], and poor eye-sight for distance-seeing [AOR:1.19, CI:1.07-1.32].

Conclusions

Quality care of individuals to combat several diseases and enhance their physical and mental health will reduce the incidence of low social participation. Opportunities in societal neighbourhoods may facilitate more involvement in social life.