Antecedentes y objetivo Los adultos mayores tienen riesgo incrementado de sufrir violencia. Para prevenirla es necesario identificar sus factores de riesgo. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar la asociación entre violencia y varios factores de tipo sociodemográfico (edad, sexo biológico, grupo étnico, nivel de educación y lugar de residencia) en adultos mayores.
Pacientes y métodos El estudio de corte transversal incluyó participantes del estudio SABE-Ecuador, quienes fueron seleccionados a través de muestreo probabilístico y provienen de todo el territorio nacional. Los datos se analizaron con R a través modelos de regresión logística ordinal.
Resultados La muestra incluyó 4.321 adultos mayores, mujeres (52%) y hombres (48%) con una edad promedio de 72 años (DE 8). El 21,3% (n = 922) de los adultos mayores reportaron haber sufrido violencia. Se observó que el odds de sufrir violencia es menor en hombres que en mujeres (OR = 0,753, p < 0,001), disminuye a medida que aumenta la edad (OR = 0,989, p = 0,012) y disminuye a medida que aumenta el nivel de educación (primaria vs. no educación OR = 0,866, p = 0,001; secundaria vs. no educación OR = 0,622, p = 0,003; superior vs. no educación OR = 0,323, p < 0,001).
Conclusiones Ser mujer y tener un bajo nivel de educación se asocia con un riesgo incrementado de sufrir violencia en adultos mayores. Reducir la brecha de género y mejorar el acceso a educación de adultos mayores podría reducir su riesgo de sufrir violencia.
Background and objective Older adults are at increased risk of violence. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to identify associated risk factors. The objective of the present study was to determine the association between violence and various socio-demographic factors (age, gender, ethnic group, level of education, and place of residence) in older adults.
Material and methods Cross-sectional study that included participants from the SABE-Ecuador study, who were selected through probabilistic sampling and came from all over the national territory. Data were analysed with R using ordinal logistic regression models.
Results Sample included 4321 older adults, women (52%) and men (48%), with a mean age of 72 years (SD 8). Having suffered violence was reported in 21.3% (n = 922) of older adults. It was observed that the odds of suffering violence was lower in men than in women (OR = 0.753, p< .001), decreased as age increased (OR = 0.989, p = .012) and decreased as level of education increased (primary vs. no education OR = 0.866, p = .001; secondary vs. no education OR = 0.622, p = .003; higher vs. no education OR = 0.323, p< .001).
Conclusions Being a woman and having a low level of education is associated with an increased risk of violence in older adults. Reducing gender gap and improving access to education for older adults could reduce their risk of violence.