PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Francesc Xavier Gomez-Olive AU - Julia Schröders AU - Isabella Aboderin AU - Peter Byass AU - Somnath Chatterji AU - Justine I Davies AU - Cornelius Debpuur AU - Siddhivinayak Hirve AU - Abraham Hodgson AU - Sanjay Juvekar AU - Kathleen Kahn AU - Paul Kowal AU - Rose Nathan AU - Nawi Ng AU - Abdur Razzaque AU - Osman Sankoh AU - Peter K Streatfield AU - Stephen M Tollman AU - Siswanto A Wilopo AU - Miles D Witham TI - Variations in disability and quality of life with age and sex between eight lower income and middle-income countries: data from the INDEPTH WHO-SAGE collaboration AID - 10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000508 DP - 2017 Dec 01 TA - BMJ Global Health PG - e000508 VI - 2 IP - 4 4099 - http://gh.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000508.short 4100 - http://gh.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000508.full AB - Background Disability and quality of life are key outcomes for older people. Little is known about how these measures vary with age and gender across lower income and middle-income countries; such information is necessary to tailor health and social care policy to promote healthy ageing and minimise disability.Methods We analysed data from participants aged 50 years and over from health and demographic surveillance system sites of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health Network in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, using an abbreviated version of the WHO Study on global AGEing survey instrument. We used the eight-item WHO Quality of Life (WHOQoL) tool to measure quality of life and theWHO Disability Assessment Schedule, version 2 (WHODAS-II) tool to measure disability. We collected selected health status measures via the survey instrument and collected demographic and socioeconomic data from linked surveillance site information. We performed regression analyses to quantify differences between countries in the relationship between age, gender and both quality of life and disability, and we used anchoring vignettes to account for differences in interpretation of disability severity.Results We included 43 935 individuals in the analysis. Mean age was 63.7 years (SD 9.7) and 24 434 (55.6%) were women. In unadjusted analyses across all countries, WHOQoL scores worsened by 0.13 points (95% CI 0.12 to 0.14) per year increase in age and WHODAS scores worsened by 0.60 points (95% CI 0.57 to 0.64). WHODAS-II and WHOQoL scores varied markedly between countries, as did the gradient of scores with increasing age. In regression analyses, differences were not fully explained by age, socioeconomic status, marital status, education or health factors. Differences in disability scores between countries were not explained by differences in anchoring vignette responses.Conclusions The relationship between age, sex and both disability and quality of life varies between countries. The findings may guide tailoring of interventions to individual country needs, although these associations require further study.