Investigation on health status of elderly people in Hubei province

Abstract

Objective To study the health status of the elderly in Hubei province, in order to provide the evidence for health management in the elderly. Methods A stratified cluster random sampling method was applied.60 resident families who lived there for more than half a year were randomly extracted from each villages or community in 20 pre-confirmed counties(or cities, districts)from October to November 2013.Household questionnaire survey was conducted among these families.5 self-assessment indexes for health were selected.The health status of residents was evaluated by using comprehensive health assessment, and the score ranges were from 0 to 100, with a value of 0 indicating the worst health status and 100 indicating the best.The prevalence of chronic diseases in the elderly and its related factors were analyzed. Results The total number of study people aged 60 years and above were 8 358, with 3 738 urban residents(44.7%)and 4 620 rural residents(55.3%), 4 092 males(49.0%)and 4 266 females(51.0%), and the average age was(68.5± 7.1)years.The score of health self-assessment of the elderly was(72.7±14.7). The two-week morbidity rate in the elderly was 45.7%(3 816 cases), and the prevalence rate of chronic diseases was 73.8%(6 169). Hypertension and diabetes were the major diseases in the elderly based on the analysis of two-week morbidity and chronic diseases.Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that urban-rural difference, gender, age, education level, marital status and employment status were the related factors for the two-week morbidity rate(all P<0.05). And urban-rural difference, gender, age, education level, employment status and economic status were also the related factors for the prevalence rate of chronic disease(all P<0.05). Conclusions The self-evaluation of health and chronic diseases status are not optimistic in the elderly in Hubei province, which are associated with urban-rural, social, economic and environmental factors.Thus chronic disease management strategy for the elderly should be developed based on these characteristics. Key words: Health surveys; Prevalence; Chronic disease