Background: Information on the morbidity profile and health-care support of elderly population is important for planning their health-care facilities.
Objective: To study the sociodemographic characteristics, morbidity pattern, and pattern of health-care support among the elderly people in urban area of Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh, India).
Materials and Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among people aged older than 60 years residing in the field practice area of urban health training centre (UHTC) of a medical college in Bhopal. One hundred fifty study subjects were enrolled in study using simple random sampling method; 30 elderly people were selected from each one of the five localities catered by UHTC. Data were collected with the interview technique by door-to-door survey.
Results: Of the 150 study subjects, 86 were men and 64 were women; 35.3% of the elderly people received treatment for their morbidities from the government hospitals, while 26.7% from private clinic/hospital. Children bear the health-care expenses for 40% of elderly while 14% had health insurance; 50% women were dependant on their children, while 44.2% men utilized their savings for health-care expenses. Ninety-eight (65.3%) study subjects were presenting complaints and morbidity. Major presenting complaint was fatigue (48.7%), followed by backache (35.3%). Obesity (39.3%) and hypertension (24.7%) were chief morbid conditions among the elderly.
Conclusion: A high prevalence of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and cataract were identified. Economic independence and use of social security measures among the elderly people is very less. Most of the elderly people received treatment services from private setup or not receiving the treatment.
Key words: Elderly, urban, health-care support, morbidity
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