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 effec-tive 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.