The Morbidity Paradox Among Jamaicans Reporting No Illness: Chronic Disease, Functional Limitations, and Social Patterning in the 2023 Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47363/JFMPM/2026(3)147Keywords:
Jamaica, Self-Reported Illness, Functional Health, Chronic Disease, Health Insurance, Socioeconomic Status, Jslc, Health MeasurementAbstract
Background: The absence of self-reported current illness is commonly interpreted as an indicator of good health, yet this assumption may conceal chronic disease and functional limitation. Objective: This study examined the demographic, socioeconomic, insurance, chronic-disease and functional-health profiles of Jamaicans who reported no current illness.
Methods: A secondary cross-sectional analysis of the 2023 Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC) was undertaken, using data supplied by the
SALISES Documentation and Data Centre, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.
Results: Among 4,251 respondents reporting no current illness, 81.1% were uninsured; 17.4% of valid functional-health respondents reported at least some difficulty; hypertension was the most frequently ever-reported chronic condition (16.5%), followed by diabetes (6.6%) and asthma (6.0%). Multivariable analysis showed that older age and being single increased the odds of functional-health difficulty, whereas secondary and post-secondary education and male sex were protective; the model was significant and well calibrated.
Conclusion: The findings indicate that absence of current illness does not equate to absence of morbidity or functional vulnerability, supporting a
multidimensional approach to population-health surveillance in Jamaica.
