Sidik Sherina Mohd, Rampal Lekhraj, Afifi Mustaqim
Unit of Family Medicine, Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Malays J Med Sci. 2004 Jan;11(1):52-9.
The prevalence of aging population is increasing not only in developed countries, but also in developing countries like Malaysia. The aim of this study was: (1) to determine the prevalence of physical and mental health problems, and (2) to determine the association of these health problems with socio demographic factors among the elderly in a rural community in Sepang, Selangor. A cross sectional study design was used. Five out of nine villages were selected via random sampling. The elderly in the selected villages were interviewed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire which included the GDS-30, ECAQ and Barthel Index. Out of 263 elderly residents (6.2% of the total population), 223 agreed to participate in the study giving a response rate of 84.8%. The mean age of the respondents was 69.7 + 6.8 years with a median of 68 years. The prevalence of physical health problems such as chronic illness and functional dependence were 60.1% and 15.7%, respectively. While the prevalence of mental health problems such as depression and cognitive impairment were 7.6% and 22.4%, respectively. Among the health problems studied, depression was found to be significantly associated with unemployment (p<0.05), where as cognitive impairment was significantly associated with age, gender, ethnicity, marital status and level of education (p<0.05).
老龄化人口的患病率不仅在发达国家不断上升，在马来西亚等发展中国家亦是如此。本研究的目的是：（1）确定身心健康问题的患病率；（2）确定雪兰莪州士拉央一个农村社区老年人中这些健康问题与社会人口因素之间的关联。采用了横断面研究设计。通过随机抽样从九个村庄中选取了五个。使用预先测试的结构化问卷对所选村庄的老年人进行访谈，问卷包括老年抑郁量表（GDS - 30）、简易精神状态检查表（ECAQ）和巴氏指数。在263名老年居民（占总人口的6.2%）中，223人同意参与研究，回应率为84.8%。受访者的平均年龄为69.7±6.8岁，中位数为68岁。诸如慢性病和功能依赖等身体健康问题的患病率分别为60.1%和15.7%。而诸如抑郁症和认知障碍等心理健康问题的患病率分别为7.6%和22.4%。在所研究的健康问题中，发现抑郁症与失业显著相关（p<0.05），而认知障碍与年龄、性别、种族、婚姻状况和教育程度显著相关（p<0.05）。
