Publication:

Study of morbidity profile of elderly attending urban health training centre of Nalanda Medical College, Patna, Bihar, India

Background Ageing is the organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing. There is a tremendous increase in the number and proportions of the senescent population in our surrounding which created a situation of concern towards the problems of the aged population. The objective of the study was to assess the common diseases occurring among elderly population and the co-morbid conditions.

Methods A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out among 383 elderly patients attending Urban Health Training Centre of Nalanda Medical College, Patna, Bihar. Their socio-demographic profile and morbidity pattern were assessed by face to face interview. Data were entered into Microsoft excel 2010 spread sheet and analysed by SPSS software version 16.

Results High percentage of elderly suffered from anemia which was 65.79% followed by urological problem which was present in 41.25% and 41.25% of elderly were underweight. Prevalence of hypertension and diabetes were 21.14% and 14.36% respectively.

Conclusions The study shows that there is high prevalence of morbidity among elderly. There is an urgent need to develop affordable and accessible geriatric health care services.