1Assistant Professor, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
2Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology, NIMHANS, Bangalore
3Associate Professor, MS Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore
Significant variation is observed in medical disorders and age-related physiological decline among the elderly.1 Insights can be gathered from the variation of health profile depending on the geographic location.
This comparative cross sectional study was conducted among the 510 elderly, aged 60 years and above, in the Urban and Rural field practice area of a medical college. Information were obtained using predesigned pretested semi structured questionnaire
Three fourth of the study population complained of suffering from atleast one morbidity. Diabetes (28%) and hypertension (27%) were the common morbidities identified in urban area whereas it was joint pain (39%) and visual impairment (23%) in the rural area. In urban area, 86.3% used private health facilities whereas in rural area, 89% used public health facilities.
Study showed a significant difference in the health profile and health seeking behaviour of the elderly in urban and rural areas. Hence health intervention and health programmes have to be planned taking into account these differences.
Health profile, health seeking behaviour, elderly, urban, rural
