A Health Survey of Elderly Population Living in a Poor Urban Area in Alexandria Part II: Health Problems, Health Services Utilization, and Drug Consumption Pattern

Makhlouf, Mohamed MM.; Zaghloul, Ashraf AZ.

doi:10.21608/jhiph.2001.236007

A Health Survey of Elderly Population Living in a Poor Urban Area in Alexandria Part II: Health Problems, Health Services Utilization, and Drug Consumption Pattern

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Family Health, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Egypt

² Department of Health Administration and Behavioral Sciences, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Egypt

10.21608/jhiph.2001.236007

Abstract

In recent years, the world has witnessed an important demographic change, with sharp increases of the number of older persons that are unparalleled in history. Elders have the highest morbidity rates of all age groups because of the associated age changes and the high prevalence of chronic illness. Such morbidities are reflected on the elderly utilization of health services and their drug consumption patterns. Information on such variables assess to generate hypothesis on the problems amongst the aged, for initiating appropriate intervention strategies or for fixing priorities for planning health services for the elderly. A house to house survey was conducted in a poor urban area in Alexandria and included 83 elderly males and 147 elderly females. For the proper conduction of the study, a pre-coded interviewing questionnaire, clinical examination, and anthropometric measurements were utilized. The majority of males and females [74.7% and 70.1% respectively] had three or more chronic conditions. Gastro-intestinal tract problems, mainly constipation and heart burn, accounted for 68.6% of males and 51% of females. Hypertension appeared to be a significant problem among the elderly population in this study, especially the elderly females, [62.7% for males, 79.6% for females]. Osteoarthritis was also much common problem among elderly females [73.5%] than males [41%]. Diabetes mellitus was also more common among females [28.6%] than males [13.3%], but chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was more common among males [31.3%] than females [19.7%]. Visual, hearing, and memory impairments appeared to be significant problems among both sexes. Although this survey was conducted in a poor urban area, non-of the studied elderly was underweight. On the contrary, obesity was a significant problem especially for females [55.8%). The majority of males [75.9%] were covered by health insurance while the majority of females [76.2] were not covered. The main sites for medical care among males were the public health services, including health insurance [61.5%], while the main sites for medical care for females were the private clinics [43.5%] followed by public health services [41.6%]. More than one tenth of both elderly males and females were admitted to hospitals two times or more during the last year. Around a quarter of males and females [24.1%, 26.6% respectively] utilize three or four drugs. Moreover, some utilize five drugs or more at a time.

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