Effect of impairment and disability on health related quality of life of elderly

Background: The old people are prone to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular illness, cardiovascular attacks, cancers, diabetes, diseases related to musculoskeletal and mental illness. These disorders affect the health related quality of life of elderly and do affect the burden on systems dealing with health in India. Aim and objectives: To study the effect of impairment and disability on health related quality of life of elderly in urban areas. Materials and methods: It was a cross-sectional study was conducted which was community based. For this study, delineated area which has around 200 households with approximately a population of 60,000 with mix of different religions, regional, social and economic statuses was taken. The study subjects selected were having age of above 60 years and both sexes were selected. 300 subjects were studied. Results: Out of a total 300 elderly, 110 males and 190 females were selected. The mean age of the subjects was 68±7.9 years. With increase in age, the number of subjects decreased consistently. In all age groups, females were higher. For both sexes, the age distribution was uniform (p>0.05). 85 % were Hindus, 5% were Muslims, 5% were Christians and 2.5% were Sikhs and rest were others. The largest group of study population were with impairment i.e. 48.5%. Of which females were having more impairment i.e. 55.8%. Females had the most self appraisal of their health i.e.115 out of 190. The worsening of health seen in people who complained since last was higher as age increased (P<0.05). HOQRL got worse as age increased. The difference in HOQRL scores in young-old and old-old were highly significant (p<0.001). Males showed decrease in HOQRL scores as age increased and it was statistically significant across the age groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded that there is an immediate need for specific preventive measures to be taken for protecting HOQRL among elderly people in India. Various health schemes and policies must be designed by the Government on seeing the findings.