Table 2.
Prevalence (%) of self-reported health status, disability, disease and co-morbidity in adults aged 60 years and over in seven cities in Latin America and the Caribbean
| Buenos Aires | Bridgetown | Sao Paulo | Santiago | Havana | Mexico City | Montevideo | All* | |
| N | 1043 | 1508 | 2143 | 1301 | 1905 | 1247 | 1450 | 10597 |
| Self-reported health status† % (95% CI) |
65.2 (59.3–71.2) |
51.8 (49.0–54.6) |
47.7 (43.8–51.5) |
40.0 (32.9–47.1) |
37.3 (34.7–39.9) |
31.2 (27.5–34.9) |
61.4 (52.6–70.2) |
49.7 (45.4–53.9) |
| Neither disability nor disease % (95% CI) |
17.0 (13.8–20.3) |
21.9 (19.6–24.1) |
20.7 (18.4–23.0) |
18.4 (14.7–22.0) |
17.7 (15.9–19.5) |
27.8 (25.2–30.4) |
20.6 (17.9–23.3) |
20.7 (19.0–22.4) |
| Any disability‡ % (95% CI) |
17.5 (14.6–20.4) |
14.2(12.1–16.3) | 19.2 (16.7–21.7) |
22.1 (18.6–25.7) |
19.1 (17.2–21.0) |
19.3 (16.8–21.9) |
17.3 (13.6–21.1) |
18.8 (17.7–19.9) |
| Any disease‡ % (95% CI) |
81.7 (78.6–84.7) |
76.2 (73.8–78.6) |
77.2 (74.9–79.5) |
78.9 (74.8–83.0) |
80.6 (78.7–82.4) |
68.6 (66.0–71.1) |
77.7 (75.5–80.0) |
77.1 (75.3–78.9) |
| Co-morbidity§% (95% CI) |
46.2 (43.6–48.9) |
44.7 (41.9–47.6) |
46.1 (43.6–48.6) |
45.0 (39.9–50.2) |
50.2 (47.8–52.5) |
34.7 (31.7–37.8) |
46.9 (42.2–51.6) |
43.7 (42.1–45.3) |
| Disability and any disease§% (95% CI) |
16.2 (13.0–19.4) |
12.2(10.1–14.2) | 17.1 (14.9–19.4) |
19.3 (15.9–22.8) |
17.3 (15.4–19.2) |
15.6 (13.3–18.0) |
15.8 (11.9–19.7) |
16.6 (15.4–17.7) |
| Disability and co-morbidity§% (95% CI) |
11.8 (9.2–14.5) |
8.3 (6.6–9.9) |
12.6 (11.0–14.3) |
14.1 (11.4–16.7) |
12.1 (10.6–13.7) |
10.5 (8.4–12.6) |
11.7 (7.8–15.6) |
11.9 (11.0–12.8) |
*The number of participants not providing information was: Any disability (N = 74; 0.7%); Any disease (N = 87; 0.8%); Co-morbidity (N = 167; 1.4%); Disability and any disease (N = 159; 1.4%): Disability and co-morbidity (N = 236; 2.0%); Neither disability nor disease (N = 159; 1.4%).
†"Self-reported health status" was defined as the proportion of participants reporting good, very good, or excellent health. Self-reported health status was not used if, due to cognitive limitations of the respondent, the question was answered by a substitute informant. Overall, 793 (6.2%) used a substitute informant and so could not provide valid self-reported health status.
‡"Any disability" was defined as difficulty in performing at least one of the six ADL activities (dressing, eating, bathing, walking across a room, getting into/out of bed and using the toilet). "Any disease" was defined as presence of at least one of the seven self-reported diseases or conditions (heart problems, cancer, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, chronic lung disease; for prevalence of each individual disease see Appendix).
§'Co-morbidity" was defined as presence of at least two of the seven self-reported diseases or conditions. "Disability and any disease" was defined as difficulty in performing at least one of the six ADL activities and presence of at least one of the seven self-reported diseases or conditions. "Disability and co-morbidity" was defined as difficulty in performing at least one of the six ADL activities and presence of at least two of the seven self-reported diseases or conditions.