Investigation on Health Status of the Elderly in Beijing Xicheng District

Objective: To formulate and implement policies for the elderly in Beijing through the cross-sectional survey on the health of the elderly in Beijing Xicheng District. Methods: Epidemiologic field survey method was used to investigate 1006 elderly citizens in three communities of Xicheng district through the questionnaires about the health status. Results: Over the past year, 208 falls, accounting for 20.7% of the total number of the investigation. 230 elderly people appear incontinence, ac- counting for 22.9%; in 230 elderly people who appear incontinence, 99 have affected their daily ac- tivities, accounting for 43.0% of the incontinence elderly people. There are 486 elderly people suf- fering from chronic pain for a month or more, accounting for 48.3% of those surveyed; among them, 13 people do not know the cause, accounting for 2.67%; 411 are somatic pain (from degenerative joint disease and musculoskeletal disorders), accounting for 84.6%; there are 38 neuralgia, such as herpes zoster, trigeminal neuralgia, phantom limb pain after amputation, sciatica, headache, ac- counting for 7.8%; 22 people have visceral pain, accounting for 4.5%; 2 have cancer pain, accounting for 0.4%. There are 486 elderly people suffering from chronic pain, of which four have taken pain medications, accounting for 0.8%. 43 people have done physical therapy, accounting for 8.8%; 13 people have done rehabilitation training, accounting for 2.7%, and 2 have used a variety of meas- ures, accounting for 0.4%; the remaining 437 choose no treatment, accounting for 89.9%. In the survey, there were 316 elderly people with sleep disorders, accounting for 31.4%, of which there are 156 taking medication to help sleep, accounting for 49.4%. In the survey, 45 elderly people are un- derweight with BMI less than 18.5, accounting for 4.5%; 453 elderly people are normal with 18.5 ≤ BMI < 24, accounting for 45.0%; 298 people are overweight with 24 ≤ BMI < 27, accounting for 29.6%; 123 people are mildly obese with 27 ≤ BMI < 30, accounting for 12.2%; 39 people are moderately obese with 30 ≤ BMI < 35, accounting for 3.9%; 48 people are severe obese with BMI more than 35, accounting for 4.8%. Conclusion: In this study, compared with the past literature in other provinces, we have the same conclusion in the sleep, body mass index and self-care ability of the elderly.