Older people face more abuse and things could get even worse

Older people face more abuse than previously thought, a new study finds. Specialists say the figures are predicted to rise as populations age worldwide. Moreover, elder abuse is rarely addressed.

Around 1 in 6 older people experience some form of abuse, a new study, supported by WHO and published in the Lancet Global Health, has found. According to the findings, almost 16% of people aged 60 years and older were subjected to either psychological abuse (11.6%), financial abuse (6.8%), neglect (4.2%), physical abuse (2.6%) or sexual abuse (0.9%). The research draws on the best available evidence from 52 studies in 28 countries from different regions, including 12 low- and middle-income countries.

According to a World Heath Organisation press release, psychological abuse is the most pervasive and includes behaviours that harm an older person’s self-worth or wellbeing such as name calling, scaring, embarrassing, destroying property or preventing them from seeing friends and family. Financial abuse includes illegally misusing an older person’s money, property or assets. Neglect includes the failure to meet an older person’s basic needs, such as food, housing, clothing and medical care. Health effects of abuse include traumatic injury and pain, as well as depression, stress and anxiety. Elder abuse can lead to an increased risk of nursing home placement, use of emergency services, hospitalization and death.

“The abuse of older people is on the rise; for the 141 million older people worldwide this has serious individual and societal costs. We must do much more to prevent and respond to the increasing frequency of different forms of abuse,” Alana Officer, Senior Health Adviser, Department of Ageing and Life Course at WHO, said.

In May 2016, Ministers of Health adopted the WHO Global Strategy and Action Plan on Ageing and Health at the World Health Assembly. The Strategy includes improving studies on the frequency of elder abuse particularly in low- and middle-income countries from South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa, for which there is little data; collecting evidence and developing guidance on what works to effectively prevent and respond to elder abuse. As a first step, governments need to evaluate existing efforts, such as training for caregivers and use of telephone helplines, and to publish these findings; and supporting countries to prevent and respond to elder abuse.

By 2050 the number of people aged 60 and over will double to reach 2 billion globally, with the vast majority of older people living in low- and middle-income countries. If the proportion of elder abuse victims remains constant, the number of people affected will increase rapidly due to population ageing, growing to 320 million victims by 2050.