The contribution of reproductive ill-health to the overall burden of perceived illness among women in southern India

Objective To investigate women's perceptions of the overall burden of illne ss among a sample of women in southern India. Methods A community-based sample of 421 young married women in a subdistric t about 70 kilometres from Bangalore, Karnataka State, India, were intervie wed monthly for one year. At each visit, information on the symptoms of all forms of illness they had experienced was elicited with the aid of a check list. Details were obtained on the durations of episodes of illness and on health-seeking behaviour and costs. The symptoms were subsequently coded in accordance with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), Findings Reproductive ill-health accounted for half of all illness-days and for 31% of total curative health expenditure. The 1990 Global Burden of Di sease study estimated that 27.4% of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost in Indian women aged 15-44 years were attributable to reproductive ill -health. Conclusions Our study indicates that this dimension of morbidity, when meas ured in terms of women's subjective experiences, makes a larger contributio n to the burden of illness than that suggested by the DALY approach. This l ends justification to the high priority attached to reproductive ill-health in India.