DESIGN: Cross sectional data were collected via face-to-face interview from June to August 2019.
SETTING: Eight government community health clinics in Kuala Pilah, a district in Negeri Sembilan state approximately 100km from Malaysian capital city Kuala Lumpur.
PARTICIPANTS: Older adults aged 60 years and above (N = 1984; Mean age 69.2, range 60-93 years) attending all eight government health clinics in the district were recruited for a face-to-face interview about health and well-being.
MEASUREMENT: The Adverse Childhood Experience International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) and the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) were utilized to estimate childhood adversity and elder abuse respectively.
RESULTS: Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed a significant relationship between the number of cumulative ACEs and elder abuse. Compared to older adults with no self-reported adversity, those reporting three ACEs (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.84,3.87) or four or more ACEs (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.16, 2.48) had higher risk of any elder abuse occurrence since age 60 years. The effect was most prominent for financial and psychological elder abuse. The associations persisted in multivariate logistic regression models after adjusting for sociodemographic and health factors.
CONCLUSION: Early life adversities were significantly associated with victimization of older adults. Social and emotional support to address elder abuse should recognize that, for some men and women, there is a possibility that vulnerability to maltreatment persisted throughout their life course.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a community-based prospective cohort study using randomly selected households from the national census. A multistage sampling method was employed to obtain a total of 2496 older adults living in the rural Kuala Pilah district. The study is divided into two phases: cross-sectional study (baseline), and a longitudinal follow-up study at the third and fifth years. Elder mistreatment was measured using instrument derived from the previous literature and modified Conflict Tactic Scales. Outcomes of elder mistreatment include mortality, physical function, mental health, quality of life and health utilisation. Logistic regression models are used to examine the relationship between risk factors and abuse estimates. Cox proportional hazard regression will be used to estimate risk of mortality associated with abuse. Associated annual rate of hospitalisation and health visit frequency, and reporting of abuse, will be estimated using Poisson regression.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the University of Malaya Medical Center (MEC Ref 902.2) and the Malaysian National Medical Research Register (NMRR-12-1444-11726). Written consent was obtained from all respondents prior to baseline assessment and subsequent follow-up. Findings will be disseminated to local stakeholders via forums with community leaders, and health and social welfare departments, and published in appropriate scientific journals and presented at conferences.