Prevalence of geriatric syndromes and associated risk factors among older adults

Abstract

A descriptive study was done to assess the prevalence of geriatric syndromes and associated factors among 200 older adults admitted in general medical and geriatric wards in a tertiary hospital. A cross sectional study design with simple random sampling technique was used to select the participants. A comprehensive geriatric assessment tool and investigator prepared questionnaire on associated risk factors which were validated by experts were used. Descriptive statistics like frequency, percentage and inferential statistics like chi-square, ANOVA, student T-test were used. Nearly 56.5% of them were male and 67% of them were married. About 61% of them were unemployed, 46.5% of them had both diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Among the participants 55% had depressive symptoms, 70% of them had lower urinary tract symptoms, 59% had GI disturbances, 61.5% had mobility impairment, 74.5% had sleep disturbance, 57% had visual impairment, 34.5% had hearing impairment, 39.5% of them had muscle weakness, 51% had memory disturbances, 46.5% of them had functional decline, 55% had malnutrition. Average number of prevalence geriatric syndromes was 6. There was a significant relationship between geriatric syndromes and associated factors (p value< 0.05). A significant association was found between geriatric syndromes and age, BMI, previous hospitalization. (p value< 0.05).