Community-Based Study of the Morbidity Profile Among Elderly People In A Rural Area of Patiala District -

Objective: To study the prevalence and pattern of morbidity in elderly people in a rural area of Punjab. Study Design: Community-based, cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: A rural area of Patiala District-a Field Practice Area of Department of Community Medicine. Participants: 743 elderly persons aged 60 yrs & above including 369 males and 374 females. Results: Out of 743 elderly persons, majority of them were having some morbidity (79.0%) at the time of study. Most of the elderly were having multiple morbidities (61.1%), showing significant rising trend with increase in age. The average morbidity per person was 2.01. The prevalence of disorders of Cardiovascular System (88.4%) was maximum. The leading causes of morbidity were Hypertension (53.7%), Arthritis (49.7%), cataract (41.6%) and anaemia (30.8%). Conclusion: The study has highlighted the high prevalence of morbidity among the elderly. Thus there is an urgent need to develop geriatric health care services.