An epidemiological study on quality of life among rural elderly population of nothern India

Abstract

Background: Population ageing is a recognized international reality, both in developed and developing countries. The number of elderly in the developing world is increasing due to demographic transition, whereas their condition is deteriorating as a result of fast eroding traditional family system coupled with rapid modernization and urbanization. Current statistics for the elderly gives a prelude to a new set of medical, social and economic problems that could arise if a timely initiative in this direction is not taken. Aims & Objective: To determine the pattern of physical morbidity in rural elderly population and to study health related quality of life and utilization of health services among them. Material and Methods: A community based cross-sectional design was adopted for studying the health problems of elderly and their health related quality of life, using WHO Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was used for sample collection. A total of 660 individual ≥ 60 years of age were taken up for the study purpose. Results: An overwhelming majority (68.2%) of elderly enjoyed a good quality of life, while those having a fair/poor quality of life were ≤ 15%. Quality of life was better in males in physical, psychological, social and environmental domains. It was more in subjects who had graduated and currently married, belonged to non-scheduled cast and living in extended families (p<0.001). Majority of the subjects were anaemic (64.5%), suffering from dental problems (62.2%) and joint pains (51.4%). Maximum numbers of subjects (92.7%) were utilizing non-government health care facility due to long distance from their houses (33.3%). Conclusion: There is a need to highlight the medical and psychosocial problems that are being faced by the elderly people in India and strategies for bringing about an improvement in their quality of life.

A comparative study of morbidity pattern in elderly of rural and urban areas of Allahabad district, Uttar Pradesh, India

“…Charle HN et al found prevalence of diabetes 24% in urban elderly Qadri S et al in rural Haryana, found prevalence of diabetes was 09% which is similar to our rural finding. 13,18,22 On contrary, Yerpude PN et al in rural area of Guntur, found prevalence of diabetes in rural area around 23% which is higher than our rural finding.…”

Quality of life among elderly in a rural area

“…1 Studies done in Northern India shows a higher overall score and also better social and interpersonal relationship scores than our study. 2,8 The differences observed in QOL scores among our study and other studies might be due to the difference in pattern of associated factors as QOL would be affected by events of life related to his/her society or community.…”

“…1 There is a need to highlight the medical and psychosocial problems that are being faced by the elderly people in India and strategies for bringing about an improvement in their quality of life. 2 Population ageing is a recognized international reality, both in developed and developing countries. The number of elderly in the developing world is increasing due to demographic transition, whereas their condition is deteriorating as a result of fast eroding traditional family system coupled with rapid modernization and urbanization.…”

“…The number of elderly in the developing world is increasing due to demographic transition, whereas their condition is deteriorating as a result of fast eroding traditional family system coupled with rapid modernization and urbanization. 2 Also, presently the epidemiological transition of diseases with increase in burden of chronic morbidity conditions, which is driven by population ageing, will affect the QOL of elderly population.…”

Association of quality of life of urban elderly with socio-demographic factors

“…[1] A study conducted by Qadri et al, it was found that the QOL was significantly better in the male sex. [7] In another study by Lokare et al, they have found that QOL was significantly better among male elderly. [4] This finding is matched with the finding of a study done by Lahariya et al [5] Male participants scored significantly higher in all domains in the present study than females.…”