Health Status of Elderly Persons in Rural Area of India.

Introduction : The population in developing countries is increasing day by day due to the development of medical science and availability of medical facilities at their door steps. This results in an increasing numbers of elderly persons which contributes to 7% of India’s population. Elderly are vulnerable to long term diseases of insidious onset such as cardiovascular illness, CVA, cancers, diabetes, musculoskeletal and mental illnesses. Hence the study was conducted to assessing the health status and morbidity pattern among the rural elderly. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in 6 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) in India among elderly persons who were 60 years and above .One PHC which was selected by random sampling method among six PHCs. 20% of all elderly persons from all the villages in selected PHC by systematic random sampling which formed the study sample (494).All these peoples were examined clinically & necessary information was collected from them. Results: Commonest morbidity observed among the elderly people was depression (31.4 %) followed by musculoskeletal disorder (25.5 %), hypertension (24.1 %), gastrointestinal problems (11.5 %), diabetes mellitus (5.9 %), & neurological problems (4.7 %). Conclusion: This study has highlighted that the elderly suffers from multiple morbidities, which they often attribute to ageing. It requires the strengthening of geriatric health care services in accordance with the common existing problems in the community.

Predictors for antenatal services and pregnancy outcome in a rural area: A prospective study in Wardha district, India.

Background :Antenatal care is essential to reduce morbidity and mortality among newborn babies and pregnant women. Aims: To study the pattern of utilization of antenatal services and to find out the potential predictors, their distributions and their association with antenatal care utilization and pregnancy outcomes. Settings and Design :A prospective longitudinal study was conducted in Deoli, a rural teaching area of a medical college of Wardha district, Maharashtra state. Materials and Methods : Medical social workers contacted all the registered 305 pregnant women in 1 month. A total of 274 women were included in the study. The response rate was 89.83%. Statistical Analysis Used : Percentages, rate ratio. Results : Mean age at marriage was 19.8±3.6 years, and the average age at first pregnancy was 21.6± 4.5 years. Of the 274 pregnant women, 156 (56.9%) were pregnant for the first time (gravida 1), and the remaining 118 (43.1%) pregnant women, gravida 2 and above, had an average of 2.1 living sons and 1.9 living daughters. Only 92 (33.6%) women had undergone the minimum recommended antenatal checkup during their current pregnancy, and 188 (68.6%) women had institutional deliveries. A large proportion of women in Deoli do not receive proper health care during pregnancy and childbirth. Conclusion : In Deoli, antenatal services, in spite of being essential to the care of pregnant women, are being poorly delivered.

Spectrum of illness in rural areas of Ahmednagar District.

At Pravara Medical Trust (PMT), Loni, Ahmednagar, multidiagnostic and treatment camps (MDTC) are organised by PMT every month in remote villages with active participation of villagers, to provide health care to needy and deprived population. From January 1987 to April 1992, 58 camps have been organised and 60,856 patients availed various medical and health services rendered by PMT. Average attendance of patients per camp was 1049, 48.36% being females and 51.64% males. According to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) patients were broadly grouped. A total of 21,603 (35.5%) were referred to the Pravara Rural Hospital and 15,700 (72.67%) of them availed the indoor and outdoor services there.