ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Geriatric population and chronic diseases are increasing throughout the world especially in developing countries like India. Because of social change and urbanization, disability is also a problem in India. As the major reasons for geriatric disabilities are chronic diseases, a study was undertaken. OBJECTIVES: To find out the prevalence of different chronic diseases and disability among the geriatric population in a rural community of India and to determine the association between chronic diseases and disability of the geriatric population. METHOD: A cross-sectional, observational community based study was conducted in a rural area of West Bengal, India through house to house visit for Clinical examination, observation and interview with a predesigned pre-tested proforma RESULTS: Out of 495 study population, 80 (16.16%) were found to be functionally disabled as per ADL scale and more than half (56.2%) of them had 3 or more chronic conditions. 92.5% of study populations had one or more chronic conditions CONCLUSION: Association between different risk factors and disability was found with age, sex, anaemia, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases(C.O.P.D), scabies, hypertrophy of prostate, ischaemic heart disease, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and acid peptic disorder were the risk factors of disability. These data suggest the significant chronic conditions and risk factors associated with disability. Measures to reduce such chronic conditions and impairment would be the useful approach for the prevention of disability.
ABSTRACT
A cross-sectional observational study was carried out between April to May 2006 by interview method and observation technique with the objective to know the knowledge regarding hand washing in the community and it was done in the slum and nonslum urban areas and also one rural area. The result shows that in urban slum area 98% washed their hands with soap after defecation; Only 36%, 16% and 2% washed their hands with soap before meal, before serving food and before cooking respectively. However, it was observed that 69% used soap and water for hand washing after cleaning the child's faeces. In rural area 71% used soap and water after defecation while 26% used mud or ash. Only 13%, 1%, 1% and 5% used soap and water before meal, before serving food, before cooking and after cleaning the child's faeces. 82.35% of respondents in non slum area and 89% of respondents in rural area considered that diarrhoea and dysentery could be prevented by hand washing while they did not give importance to hand washing in prevention of diarrhoea over other methods like cleanliness, boiling and purification of water. ARI was much higher (25.72%) in rural area followed by slum area (13.77%) and non-slum area (3.87%). Out of 30 observations among 302 interview made on hand-washing only first step i.e. palm washing (transient rubbing the palm with soap) was followed by all the participants observed. Time taken for such hand-washing was only around five seconds (ideal 15-30 seconds) in urban slum and rural areas while in non slum area it varied between 7-10 seconds on an average. No one followed any other steps of hand-washing, recommended by IFH.
