Socio-demographic determinants of caregiving in older adults of low- and middle-income countries

Background: caregivers make substantial contributions to health and social systems, but many low-resource settings lack reliable data about the determinants and experiences of older adults who are caregivers. Objective: we identified socio-demographic determinants of caregiving among older adults of low- and middle-income countries, and compared determinants of specific categories of caregiving tasks. Subjects: a total of 34,289 adults aged 60 or older from a pooled sample of 48 low- and middle-income countries. Methods: prevalence values for caregiving and categories of caregiving tasks were calculated according to socio-demographic variables, for the overall sample and for each study country. Multivariate analyses assessed associations between caregiving variables and socio-demographic determinants, adjusting for health score and country of residence. Results: overall, 15% of older adults provided care, with varying prevalence according to study country. The prevalence of caregiving was significantly higher in women, and among adults aged 60-69, the college educated, the wealthy, those living in a household of two people and urban residents. No prevalence differences were reported for the employment status or health score. The odds of caregiving were greater for women, younger age groups and higher education levels, controlling for confounders. The likelihood of participating in specific categories of caregiving differed by sex, age, marital status, education, employment status and household size, but was not associated with household economic status, area of residence or health score.