A Study of Biochemical Changes among Elderly Attending a Tertiary Care Center

This century has seen longevity as a silent revolution. With alarming rise in the population of the world; increasing from 5.7 billion in 1995 to reach a 10.8 billion by 2050. In India, the grey population just doubled in less than 25 years. During ageing there are lots of changes occurring in the body; more so in the biochemical parameters. Hence this study was planned to elucidate the pattern of changes among the elderly population attending a tertiary care hospital.

A cross-sectional hospital record based study was conducted to elucidate the biochemical changes occurring in geriatric population, which included hundred patient records comprising of equal proportion of females and males above the age of 60 years.

The study participants had mean age of 64 + 2 years. The socio demographic features were that majority (93%) belonged to the class I & II according to the modified B. G. Prasad Classification. Majority (61%) were hypertensive, 40% were Diabetic, 40% were obese and few of them (1–2%) were found to have hypothyroidism, Gout and liver disorders. Females had significantly high amount of HDL cholesterol. The diabetics had low HDL, the Impaired Glucose Tolerance and hypertensive had high levels of triglycerides.

Significantly high HDL levels were found in women and normal glucose tolerance individuals, high triglycerides were seen in individuals with Impaired Glucose Tolerance and hypertension. Larger studies are required to see the significance of this form of distribution. Regular health check-ups must be encouraged to see the age related changes in the various parameters to ascertain factors that have an impact on the healthy living of this vulnerable group of individuals.