Functional Disability Among Elderly Persons in a Rural Area of Haryana.
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Date
2014-01
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Abstract
Background: The number and proportion of elderly persons is increasing, in India, as well as the world. Disability is
an important indicator to measure disease burden in this group. While some chronic conditions may not be amenable
to complete cure, their functional disabilities can be improved with timely and appropriate management. Objectives:
The objective of the following study is to estimate the prevalence of functional disability and study its association with
socio-demographic variables and self-reported chronic conditions among elderly persons in a rural area of Haryana.
Materials and Methods: All persons aged 60 years and above in the randomly selected six clusters were included
in this community-based cross-sectional study. Information was collected on socio-demographic variables and selfreported
chronic conditions. Functional disability was defi ned as having disability in activities of daily living, or blindness
or hearing impairment, or a combination of these. In multivariate analysis, backward stepwise logistic regression was
carried out to study the association between the independent and dependent variables, after adjusting for confounding
variables. Results: Among the 836 participants studied, the prevalence of functional disability was estimated to be
37.4% (95% confi dence interval: 34.2, 40.7). The prevalence was less among men (35.9%) than women (38.8%). The
prevalence increased with age, was more common among persons who were not currently married, had diabetes and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Conclusion: Functional disability is common among elderly persons in the
rural area. Community-based interventions are needed tto address them. Management of chronic conditions should
include prevention and control of associated disability.
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Keywords
Activities of daily living, Disability, Elderly, Functional disability, Older persons, Rural
Citation
Gupta Priti, Mani Kalaivani, Rai Sanjay Kumar, Nongkynrih Baridalyne, Gupta Sanjeev Kumar. Functional Disability Among Elderly Persons in a Rural Area of Haryana. Indian Journal of Public Health. 2014 Jan-Mar; 58(1): 11-16.