Health Status and Health Seeking Behaviour of Rural Geriatric Population of Varanasi District, India

Background: Ageing is a universal, biological reality, which affects every individual on this earth.India, being the second largest country with 8.4% of the total population belonging to the age group of 60 years and above faces challenges of population ageing. The major concern now being the health care of the elderly as functional ability decreases with age leading to avoidance of challenging situations, restricted activity and further decline in health. The objective of this study was to find out the functional impairments of elderly in rural areas of East Sikkim using Lawton’s instrumental activities of daily living scale.Methods: Cross-sectional study was carried out with 324 elderly people aged 60 years and above. The study sample was obtained using multistage random sampling method. Out of total 52 GPU’s in rural areas of east Sikkim, 18 GPU’s were selected using random generation number method and then the list of all the elderly were obtained from each selected GPU. From this list, 18 elderlies in each GPU were randomly selected for the study thus the total sample size was 324. The study was conducted using Lawton’s instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scale.Results: There was significant difference between the IADL score of both the genders (p=0.0001). There was no significant relationship in IADL score with age (r=-0.072). However, 2.5% of the elderly were totally dependent for IADL activity.Conclusions: Developing multidisciplinary approaches for improving quality of life might be a fruitful approach in elderly and thus enhancing the policy makers for forming a comprehensive geriatric rehabilitation services to provide health care accessibility for every elderly.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Functional impairments of elderly in rural areas of east Sikkim, India: cross-sectional study

Engheepi¹,

Sonowal²,

Mehta³

et al. 2018

“…Similar results have also been reported by Chauhan et al, in their study in a coastal area of Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu and Kumar et al in their study in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh). 10,11 Present study reveals preference for public health care facilities 48.15% over private health care sector 31.29%, among the participants. The study also brings out Allopath as the most preferred system (55.54%), followed by Ayurveda (33.37%).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…However, Kumar et al, in their study reported musculoskeletal problems as the most common (56.5%) cause for seeking health care, followed by hypertension (34.1%), cataract or other eye related problems (23.1%) and diabetes (6.7%) etc., while Patil et al, in their study reported ARI as the most common disease (38.0 %), for seeking health care, followed by tuberculosis (30.75%), vector borne diseases like malaria and dengue, hypertension and diabetes. [10][11]13 Present study brings out that more than half (56.46%) of the study participants were aware of various available government and private health insurance schemes. However, only 19.74% of the respondents had insurance coverage, while most of them (95.8%) had subscribed to government health insurance schemes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…High preference of utilisation of government health care services has also been reported by Sachdev et al in their study in Rajasthan and Aggarwal et al in Uttar Pradesh. [11][12][13][14][15] Our study brings out fever as the most common cause 87.87% for seeking health care, followed by chronic cough (22.17%), gastro-intestinal problems (21.82%), skin problems (20.90%), hypertension (20.43%), arthritis (16.51%) and diabetes (11.31%). Cataract, deafness, ischemic heart diseases, tuberculosis and alcohol liver diseases were other common disorders for which respondents sought consultation from heath care providers (Figure 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health seeking behaviour and its determinants among rural population- a cross sectional study in South India

Kumar¹,

Kapinakadu²,

Anil³

2019

Despite improvements in access to health care in India, inequalities related to socioeconomic status, geography and gender continue to exist. This is further compounded ABSTRACT Background: Remedial action that a person takes to treat his or her perceived illnesses, is called health-seeking behaviour. Understanding health seeking behaviour (HSB) in a community and the factors which influence their decision, are crucial for planning a "need based" comprehensive health care programmes for the people, especially for underprovided and rural population. The objective of present study was to determine HSB and its determinants in a defined rural population. Methods: A community based cross -sectional study was conducted in rural field practice area of A. J. Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Mangalore (Karnataka) from 1st October 2017 to 31st July 2018. A total of 866 heads of households were included in the study, using universal sampling method. A pre-tested, validated questionnaire was used to collect the data. p values of <0.05 were considered significant. Results: Among 866 participants, almost all (98.03%) heads of families were males, while majority of them (35.68 %) were farmers. Further, majority (48.15%) of the households preferred to visit government hospitals for their ailments, while among those visiting private practitioners, majority of them (55.54%) preferred Allopath system of medicine. Health insurance subscription rates were found to be low (18.93%). Main determinants of HSB were observed to be cost of treatment, convenience of approach, quality of services and life threatening emergencies. Conclusions: Present study brings out higher utilization of government health care facilities among the study subjects, while cost of treatment and life threatening emergencies were the main predictors of HSB.

“…As a matter of fact, India is facing with a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. 4,5 These diseases greatly influence their quality of life and functionality. The problems faced by them may be due to the ageing process, those associated with long-term illnesses like degenerative diseases of the heart, cancer, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, genitourinary conditions or psychological problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morbidity pattern of elderly women of rural North Karnataka: a community based cross-sectional study

Bhat

Yadavannavar

2017

Background: With the increasing life expectancy, the population around the world is growing old at a higher rate. Ensuring their quality of life and addressing their health care needs is a major challenge ahead. Elderly women are more vulnerable and there is a dearth for information regarding their health problems in India. Therefore, this study was undertaken focusing on the health problems of rural elderly women. The objective of the study was to assess the morbidity pattern of rural elderly women.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural field practice area of Shri B M Patil Medical College, Vijayapura from November 2015 to February 2016. A house-to-house survey was done and 200 women aged ≥60 years were included in the study. They were interviewed using pretested and predesigned questionnaire after obtaining informed consent. Information regarding demographic profile, present or past illness, economic history and physical activity of daily living were collected. Analysis was done using SPSS v.16 and data was represented using proportions and percentages.Results: Majority of the participants were illiterate (96.4%). Most (83.6%) of them were financially dependent. Most common chronic illness was arthritis (73.3%) and visual problem (58.8%).Conclusions: Our study reveals majority of the elderly women are suffering from one or multiple chronic illnesses. As a matter of fact, there is an urgent need to develop better health care services for the elderly women residing in rural areas.