Health and associated social problems of elderly population in an urban setting: a study from Kolkata, India

Abstract

Background: World population is aging, in its truest sense of the term. Therefore socio-economic condition of the elderly population is changing constantly, which is adversely affected by various health problems during their way of life course. This study aimed to describe the relation between different comorbidities and social problems of the elderly people. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out by house to house visit in an urban setting in greater Kolkata area, the field practice area of a family physician. A total of 208 elderly patients (60 years old and above) were interviewed using a pre-tested schedule. Study findings were recorded in terms of proportions and percentages and its correlation to social problems was searched. Results: Male older adults were more than their female counterparts, though widows were more in numbers than widowers. Most of them were having multiple morbidities (87.98%). Visual impairment was the commonest problem detected in the studied elderly population with prevalence of 75.96% (158/208). Prevalence of hypertension was 68.75% (143/208). Other significant morbidities seen are auditory, musculoskeletal, urinary, cardiac etc. Conclusions: The result of the study showed that health problem has a significant relation with increasing age in human beings. Awareness generation should be done among the elderly people for regular health check-ups to ensure prevention and early detection of many chronic diseases. So the strategies are required to bring about the quality of life in health, which should be an equal responsibility for individual, family, society and the government.