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A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa

Introduction Globally, the population of older adults is ageing rapidly, due to increased longevity and decreasing fertility rates. With the rapidly accelerating growth of this ageing population in low-to-middle income countries, the health systems are not well resourced to manage this rapid growth...

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Main Author: Steyn, Simone
Other Authors: Malaba, Thokozile
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Public Health and Family Medicine 2022
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access_status_str Open Access
author Steyn, Simone
author2 Malaba, Thokozile
author_browse Malaba, Thokozile
Steyn, Simone
author_facet Malaba, Thokozile
Steyn, Simone
author_sort Steyn, Simone
collection Thesis
description Introduction Globally, the population of older adults is ageing rapidly, due to increased longevity and decreasing fertility rates. With the rapidly accelerating growth of this ageing population in low-to-middle income countries, the health systems are not well resourced to manage this rapid growth that are required to accommodate older multimorbid populations. Multimorbidity presents as an elevated risk for the health and wellbeing of older populations and occurs when more than one chronic condition is present. Globally pain is a common symptom among older adults that impairs health with severe consequences especially when multimorbidity is present. Some evidence has shown that living under poverty-stricken conditions is associated with increased pain, particularly among vulnerable populations such as older adults. There is limited evidence in Cape Town on the relationship between living in low-to middle income areas and poverty indicators such as making financial trade-offs for survival with increased reports of pain in older adults. Methods In this cross-sectional analysis, adults aged 60 years and above seeking care from four selected primary health care clinics and health clubs were enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal study (Wellbeing Study). Data was used from an existing study that commenced in March 2018. Data were collected using a multidimensional geriatric instrument called the Check-Up Self-Report (interRAI). The researcher assessed the relationship between financial trade-offs made for survival (as a proxy for poverty) and pain in the last three days (as a proxy for pain) overall, and according to study sites. Permission for the parent study was sought and granted by the University of Cape Town's Health Research Ethics Committee (UCT-HREC, Ref: 790/2017) as well as by the Western Cape Department of Health. Results The results highlighted that overall and by site, no associations were observed between pain and financial trade-offs after adjusting for various health-related variables (aOR: 1.17, 95% CI: 0.97 – 1.42). Of the 1813 older adults included in this analysis (64% female, median age 68 years (IQR: 64-74)) 51% reported making financial trade-offs and 46% reported experiencing pain in the last three days. Overall, a moderate proportion of participants (27%) reported daily pain, which was categorised as not severe (11%), severe (12%) and excruciating (4%). When assessed by site a significantly higher proportion of participants reported daily pain in Khayelitsha (43%) and Woodstock (40%). Conclusion In this study the need to make financial trade-offs for survival and pain were prevalent in this population. Although an association was not found between making financial trade-offs and recent pain, the results provided valuable information that can drive future research studies and policy. The use of this multidimensional tool which collects information from various health categories and provides broad and less in-depth data may have played a role in the nullified results. Further research is needed to evaluate the association of poverty indicators on pain in this population using more detailed pain and poverty assessment tools.
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/36173 A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa Steyn, Simone Malaba, Thokozile Geffen, Leon Epidemiology and Biostatistics Introduction Globally, the population of older adults is ageing rapidly, due to increased longevity and decreasing fertility rates. With the rapidly accelerating growth of this ageing population in low-to-middle income countries, the health systems are not well resourced to manage this rapid growth that are required to accommodate older multimorbid populations. Multimorbidity presents as an elevated risk for the health and wellbeing of older populations and occurs when more than one chronic condition is present. Globally pain is a common symptom among older adults that impairs health with severe consequences especially when multimorbidity is present. Some evidence has shown that living under poverty-stricken conditions is associated with increased pain, particularly among vulnerable populations such as older adults. There is limited evidence in Cape Town on the relationship between living in low-to middle income areas and poverty indicators such as making financial trade-offs for survival with increased reports of pain in older adults. Methods In this cross-sectional analysis, adults aged 60 years and above seeking care from four selected primary health care clinics and health clubs were enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal study (Wellbeing Study). Data was used from an existing study that commenced in March 2018. Data were collected using a multidimensional geriatric instrument called the Check-Up Self-Report (interRAI). The researcher assessed the relationship between financial trade-offs made for survival (as a proxy for poverty) and pain in the last three days (as a proxy for pain) overall, and according to study sites. Permission for the parent study was sought and granted by the University of Cape Town's Health Research Ethics Committee (UCT-HREC, Ref: 790/2017) as well as by the Western Cape Department of Health. Results The results highlighted that overall and by site, no associations were observed between pain and financial trade-offs after adjusting for various health-related variables (aOR: 1.17, 95% CI: 0.97 – 1.42). Of the 1813 older adults included in this analysis (64% female, median age 68 years (IQR: 64-74)) 51% reported making financial trade-offs and 46% reported experiencing pain in the last three days. Overall, a moderate proportion of participants (27%) reported daily pain, which was categorised as not severe (11%), severe (12%) and excruciating (4%). When assessed by site a significantly higher proportion of participants reported daily pain in Khayelitsha (43%) and Woodstock (40%). Conclusion In this study the need to make financial trade-offs for survival and pain were prevalent in this population. Although an association was not found between making financial trade-offs and recent pain, the results provided valuable information that can drive future research studies and policy. The use of this multidimensional tool which collects information from various health categories and provides broad and less in-depth data may have played a role in the nullified results. Further research is needed to evaluate the association of poverty indicators on pain in this population using more detailed pain and poverty assessment tools. 2022-03-17T11:27:34Z 2022-03-17T11:27:34Z 2021 2022-03-16T09:28:54Z Master Thesis Masters MPH http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36173 eng application/pdf Department of Public Health and Family Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Steyn, Simone
A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa
title_full A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa
title_fullStr A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa
title_full_unstemmed A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa
title_short A cross-sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low-to middle-income areas in Cape Town, South Africa
title_sort cross sectional analysis on the association between pain and making tradeoffs for survival using a multidimensional health assessment tool among older adults living in low to middle income areas in cape town south africa
topic Epidemiology and Biostatistics
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/36173
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AT steynsimone crosssectionalanalysisontheassociationbetweenpainandmakingtradeoffsforsurvivalusingamultidimensionalhealthassessmenttoolamongolderadultslivinginlowtomiddleincomeareasincapetownsouthafrica