Assistant Professor, Dept of Community Medicine, Dr. B.R.A.M.C, Bangalore
Functional ability among elderly is one of the important components of well being and its impairment will reduce the quality of life. Functional assessment will help to objectively measure the level at which a geriatric person functions in day to day living and to identify the medical needs which can improve their functional ability.
To assess the functional status among the rural elderly population.
Cross sectional study.
Kaiwara, Rural field practice area of Department of community medicine, M.S. Ramaiah medical college, Bangalore.
People who had completed 60 years of age at the time of interview.
A total of 432 geriatric patients were assessed for functional status of which 168 were males and 264 were females. Three fourth of the study population were not literates, around 44% were totally dependent financially, 48% were either widow or widower. Visual impairment was seen in 65.8%, Cataract was found in 67% of the study population. Around 29% had hearing impairment. Mobility impairment was found in 20.4% and balance impairment in 25% of the study population. Mean Barthel index was found to be 86.44.
Functional status, Elderly, Rural
