Health Status of Elderly Persons in Rural Area of India.

ABSTRACT

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.