Self-care Ability among Elderly Patients with Osteoarthritis

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the level of self-care ability and activity of daily living ≥ 60 years’ elderly having osteoarthritis and determine their association with socio demographic variables. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 in the OPDs of tertiary care hospitals of Peshawar, Pakistan. Total 384 elderly individuals were recruited through consecutive sampling Data were collected through validated questionnaire Self-care items and Activity of daily living. Descriptive statistics like mean, and standard deviation were calculated. Chi square was applied to see an association. Result: Among the 384 participants of the study, Majority of the patient was 68% of them were females. The mean BMI was 28.37 with a standard deviation ± 4.005. Using the ADL checklist majority of the participants were moderately affected (41.7%) followed by the intact patient (30.7%), while the percentage of highly affected patient were (27.3%). The self-care activities of majority of the participants self-care were poor (71.6%), while the remaining (28.4%) patients were intact. A significant association of self-care ability was found with age, duration of osteoarthritis, type of osteoarthritis, grading of osteoarthritis, income level. Moreover, a significant association was also found between activity of daily living with age, gender, duration of osteoarthritis, type of osteoarthritis, grading of osteoarthritis, marital status with activities of daily living, and residence. Conclusion: The study found that majority of the patient self-care practices and activity of daily living was poor, while highly significant association was found with socio demographic variables. Therefore, strategies shall be made to work on all those variables which are modifiable to make the life of these patients comfortable.