Morbidity Pattern Among Elderly in an Urban Area of Burla, Odisha

Population aging is an inevitable demographic reality that is associated with improvements in the health and medical care system. With longevity and declining fertility rates, the population of older persons is growing faster than the general population globally. The elderly population is more prone to various kinds of morbidity due to decreasing immunity and the risk of advancing age.

To describe the morbidity pattern of the elderly in an urban area of Burla.

Community-based cross-sectional study was carried out for one year from 1st July 2021 to 30th June 2022. A total of 385 individuals aged 60 years and above residing in Burla were included in the study. Patient-wise data collection was done by a predesigned, pretested structured questionnaire. The chi-square test for categorical variables at a 95% confidence interval and significance set at 0.05 were used as measures of association in the analysis of factors associated with morbidity.

The most common health problem involved was musculoskeletal (68.6%), followed by cardiovascular (57.1%), eye (47.3%), endocrine (25.2%), respiratory (21.3%), digestive (20.5%), skin (16.1%), ear (15.3%), general and unspecified health problems (30.7%), and urological (5.5%) and 4.5% had neurological problems.

Elderly population has a high frequency of numerous morbidities, so it is important to educate the elderly population about prevalent age-related health issues as well as preventive care.