Socio-demographic differentials of adult health indicators in Matlab, Bangladesh: self-rated health, health state, quality of life and disability level

BACKGROUND: Mortality has been declining in Bangladesh since the mid- twentieth century, while fertility has been declining since the late 1970s, and the country is now passing through the third stage of demographic transition. This type of demographic transition has produced a huge youthful population with a growing number of older people. For assessing health among older people, this study examines self-rated health, health state, quality of life and disability level in persons aged 50 and over. DATA AND METHODS: This is a collaborative study between the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health and the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in developing countries which collected data from eight countries. Two…