Elder abuse among residents of Shivamogga: a cross sectional study

Background: As per the WHO estimates the global population of people aged 60 years and above will increase from 900 million in 2015 to about 2 billion in 2050. Abuse of elderly has become a problem even in India. Due to social taboo, the elder abuse at community setting is usually not reported. Even though elder abuse is an important public health problem, very little is known about the extent of abuse especially in developing countries. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Shivamogga. A total of 200 elderly persons were interviewed using a pretested semi structured questionnaire. The person showing suggestive score was further asked about type of abuse and perpetrator of mistreatment. Results: Our study showed total prevalence of elder abuse in the community to be 24%. The extent of abuse was more among females especially the housewives. The most common type of abuse was verbal abuse followed by psychological abuse. Son was the common perpetrator of mistreatment. Conclusions: Elder abuse is much prevalent in the community. There is a need for further studies to generalise the findings.

Healthy aged persons had a better adrenocortical function.

The present study was carried out in the department of physiology, Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, Bangladesh during the period of July 2004 to June 2005 to estimate basal cortisol level in healthy aged persons and to explore association between aging and antiaging and adreno cortical status. A total number of 60 healthy subjects aged 60 and above 60 years old were included in this study. Twenty three (23) normal healthy subjects of aged 20-30 years were taken as control group. Estimation of serum cortisol level of both study and control group was done by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in centre for nuclear medicine and ultrasound, Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS program using unpaired students't' test between two groups. The results showed that there is no statistically significant difference in mean serum cortisol level of study group when compare to control group. The study depicts that subjects possessed better adrenocortical function and seems to be associated with good health and a high level of function despite advancing age.