Abstract
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. 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. 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 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 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.
Highlights
The World is aging and so is its population
More than half (56.2%) of the disabled population had 3 or more chronic diseases and 7.5% of study population did not have any chronic condition
The present study observed that Osteoporosis, Anaemia, Acid peptic disorder, Osteoarthritis, Diabetes, Tuberculosis, Neuropathy, IHD and Hypertension were associated with disability
Summary
The World is aging and so is its population. Increasing awareness, better health care, improved living conditions lead to increase life expectancy and geriatric population. By 2025, the number of elderly people is expected to rise more than 1.2 billion with about 840 million of these in low- income countries.[1] In India, according to the Sample Registration System (2005) 7.2 percent of the total populations were above the age of 60 years[2]. As the numbers of older and disabled persons grew and the prevalence of chronic disease increased, the importance of function in health and illness was recognized.[3] Chronic illness and functional ability have an influence on the quality of life in elderly populations. There is evidence that older people have the risk of multiple co-morbidities,[4] which may lead to increased disability among them
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