Chronic Morbidity and Health Seeking Behaviour among Elderly in a Rural Area of Thrissur District

Abstract

BACKGROUND Elderly people are often neglected in the society particularly with regards to the healthcare service delivery in Indian context. Most of them live with certain forms of morbidities. The consequences of these illnesses in terms of severity affect their willingness to seek help from health care services. Therefore, understanding the morbidities and their health seeking behaviour is a prerequisite for providing essential need-based healthcare services to this marginalised population. A cross sectional study was conducted to understand the pattern of comorbidities and factors of health seeking behaviours of the elderly in a rural area of Thrissur district, Kerala. METHODS A total of 243 elderly participants who were above 60 years was selected from a rural area of Thrissur district to participate the study. SPSS Ver. 16.0 was used to carry out analysis of the data. Descriptive statistics were used to express the pattern of chronic morbidity, and assess the health seeking behaviour and associated factors in the above population. RESULTS Our findings revealed that majority of the study population (82.7 %) was suffering from at least one chronic health problem; among them, 44 % had hypertension, 35.8 % had diabetes mellitus and 23.5 % had musculoskeletal diseases. 60.5 % were not doing any kind of exercise. Health seeking behavior was highest for diabetes and hypertension (100 % and 97.1 %). It was lowest for urinary disorders (72.72 %) followed by visual problems and respiratory problems (82.75 % and 83.3 %). Most common reasons for not seeking health care were that they consider the illness to be insignificant or they believe it to be a part of ageing process (37.5 %). CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of chronic morbidity is high among the elderly. Health seeking behavior is better in Kerala compared to other states. KEYWORDS Chronic Morbidity, Healthcare Seeking Behaviour, Morbidity, Elderly, Kerala

Study on health seeking behaviour of elderly population for chronic diseases in a rural area of northern Kerala

“…13,14 According to Areekal et al, common reasons for avoiding seeking health treatment include believing the sickness is unimportant or believing it is a normal part of the ageing process. 12 The difference between the findings of this study with that of other previous research could be attributed to the fact that different geographic areas may have different cultural norms, healthcare access, health system delivery, and morbidity patterns. The major strength of the study was that it was conducted as a house-to-house community survey using a pre-structured questionnaire.…”

“…This is consistent with another study from Kerala by B Areekal et al, which indicated that older people are more likely to have diabetes, hypertension, and musculoskeletal conditions. 12 In contrast to these results, a study done in Karnataka by Davalagi et al discovered that respiratory illnesses and musculoskeletal issues were the most prevalent illnesses. 13 Another study conducted in Assam revealed that arthritis and vision impairment are the two most prevalent issues affecting the elderly.…”