Acquisiton of disability after age 50 following extreme urban coastal flooding events in India

Abstract

Extreme climate events are infrequently considered for elder health and wellbeing in low and middle income countries. The world’s first and fourth largest urban populations exposed to extreme coastal flooding are in India (Mumbai and Kolkata). These and the next largest of India’s coastal cities, Chennai and Surat, each experienced an extreme flood event in the years 2005-2007 that was either unprecendented in recorded meteorological history (Mumbai and Chennai) or whose magnitude exceeded any in the last 30 and 40 years (Kolkata and Surat). We use panel data collected before these events (2004-2005), and collected again approximately seven years later (2011-2012), analyzing individuals aged 50 and over. We analyzed acquisition of any disability condition between 2004-2005 and 2011-2012, comparing these four large coastal cities to all India’s urban areas and to India’s five inland cities (Dehli, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmadabad, and Pune) whose population sizes were between those of the four exposed coastal cities of our study. Residing in a coastal city that experienced an extreme flood event was associated with an 80% higher odds of acquiring disability (OR 1.80; 95% CI:1.468, 2.207), whereas residing in equivalent-sized inland city was not associated with a change in the odds of acquiring a disability, relative to all other urban areas. Being older, female, unmarried, in a single-generation household, and having a chronic morbidity condition had positive associations with disability acquisition, but only older age had a magnitude of association exceeding that for living in a coastal city that experienced an extreme flood event.