Self-rated health and its association with the individual's activities of daily living: A cross-sectional study among elderly residing in an urban settlement.

CONTEXT

The phenomenon of population aging being inevitable, and the elderly being an asset to society by their skills and experience, their health and well-being is of paramount importance. Wherein self-rated physical health is an indicator which measures the healthy life perceived by an individual, their functional status gives an account of their independency to lead an independent life.

AIMS

To assess self-rated health (SRH) and its association with activities of daily living among the elderly.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in the urban slums of the field practice area of a medical college in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

METHODS AND MATERIAL

Systematic random sampling was used to identify households and select 400 consenting individuals aged 60 years and above. A semi-structured questionnaire having sections on socio-demographic factors, self-rated health and validated Activities of daily living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) instruments were used to collect data.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

Continuous variables were presented as mean ± SD; categorical variables as frequency and percentage., Chi-square test as a test of association. A value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

A total of 400 elderly people were surveyed, majority (51.75%) were females. A higher proportion (69.25%) of the study population belonged to the age group of 60-69 years. Around 59.75% of the respondents were illiterate. The majority (57.5%) reported to have "good" Self-Rated Health (SRH). Among those who had a good SRH, 97.13% were fully functional and this was also found to have a statistically significant association ( < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Among the respondents, the majority reported having "good" self-rated health. The SRH also had an association with their functional status. It is recommended that SRH be used as a proxy marker with their functional status and independence to carry out their daily activities.