Determinants of bed net use among older people in Nigeria: Results from a nationally representative survey
Introduction: the use of bed nets is a well-recognized and cost-effective preventive measure against malaria. However, little is known about factors associated with the use of bed nets among older people in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the determinants of bed net use among older Nigerian adults.
Methods: data from the first wave of the Nigeria General Household Survey-Panel were used, which included 3,439 participants aged 50 years and above. Log-binomial models were used to model the association between participants' sociodemographic characteristics and the use of bed nets.
Results: the frequency of bed net use was 26%. The adjusted prevalence ratio (PR) of bed net use was lower in women (PR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.73-0.96), older age groups (60-69 years: PR=0.85, 95% CI:0.75-0.97; 70 years and above: PR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.69-0.94), female-headed households (PR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.53-0.89) and among those in the highest tertiles of per-capita household expenditure (PR=0.77, 95% CI: 0.66-0.90). However, the frequency of bed net use was higher among older adults residing in the rural areas (PR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.55-2.18) and those who reported never having attended school (PR=1.15, 95% CI: 1.01-1.30).
Conclusion: the prevalence of bed net use among older adults is lower compared to previously reported data for younger adults, suggesting an increased risk of the older adults of exposure to malaria. Female sex, age ≥ 60 years, level of education, economic status, and rural vs urban residence were important determinants of bed net use among older adults.
History
Publication title
Pan African Medical JournalVolume
31Article number
112Number
112Pagination
1-10ISSN
1937-8688Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical ResearchPublisher
African Field Epidemiology NetworkPlace of publication
UgandaRights statement
© Saliu Balogun et al. The Pan African Medical Journal. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Repository Status
- Open