An assessment of functional limitations and its relation to morbidity pattern among the elderly residing in urban area, Kerala, India

Authors

  • Arshia S. Pillai Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
  • Paul T. Francis Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
  • Niveditha Kartha Department of Biostatistics, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, Kerala, India
  • Minu Maria Mathew Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, Kerala, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20214809

Keywords:

Elderly, Functional limitations, Morbidity pattern

Abstract

Background: Ageing is an inevitable process and a person aged 60 years or above is often referred to as ‘elderly’. Older age is characterized by emergence of several complex health states that tend to occur only later in life and that do not fall into discrete disease categories. These are commonly called as geriatric syndromes. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of functional limitations among the elderly and to determine the association between functional limitations and morbidity pattern among the elderly residing in urban area in Ernakulam district, Kerala.

Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 302 elderly participants by using cluster sampling technique in two urban areas of Ernakulam. The structured questionnaire included socio-demographic details, diagnosed morbidities and modified Barthel index to assess functional limitations.

Results: The overall prevalence of functional limitations was 22.4% among the elderly. Functional limitations were significantly associated with acid peptic diseases, constipation, kidney disorder, urinary tract infection, arthritis/joint pain, visual impairment, senile deafness and edentulous mouth.

Conclusions: In our study 22.4% of the elderly had some form of functional limitations in terms of difficulties in performing basic ADL. Association of functional limitations and different type of morbidities were found in acid peptic diseases, constipation, kidney disorder, urinary tract infection, arthritis/joint pain, visual impairment, senile deafness showed statistically significant. Individuals who had edentulous mouth was also found to be statistically significant.

 

Author Biography

Arshia S. Pillai, Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Ernakulam, Kerala, India

Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences.

References

Qadri S, Ahluwalia S, Ganai A, Shalender B, Wani F, Bashir H. An epidemiological study on quality of life among rural elderly population of Nothern India. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2013;2:492.

Jain S, Kaware AC, Doibale MK, Shaikh S, Mathurkar MP. Morbidity pattern among geriatric population in urban field practice area of district of Maharashtra: a cross sectional study. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017;3(2):523-9.

Hameed S, Kumar N, Naik PM. Morbidity pattern among the elderly population in a rural area of Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka–A cross sectional study. Nat J Community Med. 2015;6(2):4.

WHO. Ageing and health, 2021. Available at: https://www.who.int/newsroom/factsheets/detail/ageing-and-health. Accessed on 10 November 2021.

Karmakar N, Nag K, Datta A, Sekhar DS, Bhattacharjee P. A cross-sectional study on morbidity pattern of elderly population residing in a rural area of Tripura. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017;5(11):5030.

Venkatorao T, Ezhil R, Jabbar S, Ramakrishnan R. Prevalence of disability and handicaps in geriatric population in rural south India. Indian J Public Health. 2005;49(1):11-7.

Chakrabarty D, Mandal PK, Manna N, Mallik S, Ghosh P, Chatterjee C, et al. Functional Disability and Associated Chronic Conditions among Geriatric Populations in a Rural Community of India. Ghana Med J. 2010;44(4):150-4.

Padda AS, Mohan V, Singh J, Deepti SS, Singh G, Dhillon HS. Health Profile Of Aged Persons In Urban & Rural Field Practice Areas Of Medical College, Amrisar. Indian J Community Med. 1998;23(2):72.

Rafiq M. Health Problems of the Elderly in Budgam District (J&K): A Cross Sectional Study. IJCMR. 2016;3(12):3.

Kaur G, Bansal R, Anand T, Kumar A, Singh J. Morbidity profile of noncommunicable diseases among elderly in a city in North India. Clin Epidemiol Glob Health. 2019;7(1):29-34.

Sengupta P, Singh S, Benjamin AI. Health of the Urban Elderly in Ludhiana, Punjab. Indian J Gerontol. 2007;21(4):368-77.

Das RA, Kumar SG, Roy G. Morbidity pattern and its relation to functional limitations among old age rural population in Kerala, India. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2017;6(2):301-4.

George LS, Deshpande S, Kumar MK, Patil RS. Morbidity pattern and its sociodemographic determinants among elderly population of Raichur district, Karnataka, India. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2017;6(2):340.

Joshi K, Kumar R, Avasthi A. Morbidity profile and its relationship with disability and psychological distress among elderly people in Northern India. Int J Epidemiol. 2003;32(6):978-87.

Downloads

Published

2021-12-27

How to Cite

Pillai, A. S., Francis, P. T., Kartha, N., & Mathew, M. M. (2021). An assessment of functional limitations and its relation to morbidity pattern among the elderly residing in urban area, Kerala, India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 9(1), 116–120. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20214809

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles