Prevalence of Non-communicable Diseases among Elderly Women

Abstract

Introduction: NCDs are one of the major challenges for public health in the 21st century, not only in terms of human suffering but also the harm to the socio-economic development of the country. As the elderly population is likely to increase in the future, and there is a definite shift in the disease pattern i.e., from communicable to non-communicable, it is high time that the health care system gears itself to growing health needs of the elderly in an optimal and comprehensive manner. To provide aid for effective implementation of NCD program by measuring the prevalence of NCD among elderly women with an objective to assess the prevalence of Non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes) among elderly women has been conducted. Material and Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in the RHTC, Seloo All women (n=260) aged 60 years and above of six Anganwadi areas were interviewed by the house-to-house survey. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS.17. Results: 33.46% of elderly women belonged to the age group of 60-64 years, 78.85% of the elderly were illiterate. Among all elderly women, 30.38% had hypertension, 7.30% had diabetes, and Ischemic heart disease 1.15% and cancer 0.38% were found in study participants. Conclusion: Our study shows that diabetes and hypertension are more common among elderly women. The occupation had a significant association with diabetes.

Keywords

• Non-communicable diseases
• Elderly women
• Diabetes
• Hypertension