Prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases among Geriatric population in Block Hazratbal, District Srinagar

Elderly population aged 60 years and above in the world will reach 1.2 billion by the year 2025, the majority of whom will be in developing countries.Major health problems which are faced in this age group are hypertension, coronary artery disease, strokes, diabetes mellitus, obesity, cancers, cataracts, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive airway disease, benign hyperplasia of prostate, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, senile Dementia and depression. Globally, the burden of non-communicable diseases, which also bear the greatest morbidity and mortality, is rising in developing countries. Demographic and epidemiological transitions taking place in the developing countries of Asia is shifting the disease burden from communicable towards non-communicable disease. India’s poor are at heightened risk of acquiring NCDs owing to high rate of smoking, tobacco use and high salt intake. So this paper analyses the links between sociodemographic correlates and non-communicable diseases in block Hazratbal, district Srinagar. Objectives:1.To estimate the prevalence of NCDs among study population.2.To find out the socio-demographic correlates of NCDs in the study population. Study design: A Community Based, Cross sectional study. Study population: Elderly (≥60 years) persons residing in selected geographical area. Results:In this study, majority of the elderly study population were suffering from Hypertension/Ischemic/Other heart diseases (52.2%) followed by COPD (11.4%), Arthritis/other Musculoskeletal problems (10.6%), Diabetes mellitus (10.4%). Gastritis (9.8%), Hypothyroidism (9.6%), Benign prostrate hypertrophy (9.4%). The main reason for high prevalence of Hypertension/Ischemic heart disease could be that we take lots of salty products in our daily diet. Other causes could be living in a conflict area or genetic susceptibility. Most of elderly study subjects 446(89.9%) were on drugs for their chronic diseases.