RÉSUMÉ
BACKGROUND: Multidimensional components of quality of life such as well-being, satisfaction, and lifestyle together ensure an improvement in longer life expectancy. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the assessment of the quality of life (QoL) of the elderly population and its association with various background characteristics. METHODOLOGY: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from April to September 2017 among 270 consenting elderly people residing in urban slums under the field practice area of a medical college, using a well-structured, globally validated World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) tool. The scores were computed for the different domains of WHO QoL, and the mean score of these domains was compared among the different socio-economic and demographic factors. RESULTS: The majority (67.41%) of the sampled population belonged to the 60- to 69-year-old age group; females (63.70%) outnumbered males. The total QoL score was 47.52 ± 15.06 showing that the average population had a fair QoL. The environmental domain had a poor QoL (43.15) score, and the rest of the domains showed a fair QoL. Higher age groups, persons other than self-employed, and the upper class were seen to have significantly lower QoL scores in all four domains. Females had a lower QoL score in the physical as well as social domains as compared to males. CONCLUSION: Aging is associated with a decrease in social and economic participation. In areas of compromised living conditions, like slums, the environmental domain adds to the decrease in quality along with the other domains. Ageing, employment status, socio-economic class, and the female gender had significantly lower QoL scores in all four domains.
RÉSUMÉ
BACKGROUND: Population aging is inevitable. Old age is marked with health problems because of aging process, long-term chronic illnesses, also associated with social and mental problems. OBJECTIVES: To determine the pattern of physical morbidities in geriatric population and to study the utilization of health services among them. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken from April to September 2017, among 270 consenting elderly people, residing in urban slums under field practice area of a medical college, using a structured interview schedule. RESULTS: Among the 270 elderly, 36.30% were males, 80% belonged to nuclear families. A total of 262 reported of some morbidity, 61.85% had hypertension, 45.19% had diabetes, 37.78% had acid peptic disease, and 51.08% reported to have 1--3 morbidities. Majority (41.85%) of them had visited a physician on an average of 4--6 times in the preceding year. A total of 84.81% went to the urban health center, whereas 24.81% to a government hospital for treatment. Reasons cited for preference of health facility were "free consultation" and "nearby location" (85.19%). A total of 90.74% received allopathic medicines. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of morbidity was found to be high, which can be attributed to their compromised living conditions. Health-seeking behavior was found to be good.