A Community Based Interventional Study on Health Status of Aged People in a Semi-Urban Community in South-South Nigeria

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the health status of aged people living in Ekpoma. In this study, a descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted in adults aged 50 years and above. Data were collected by direct interview and questionnaire. Health screening activities include history taking, physical examination,  blood  pressure
measurement and fasting blood sugar testing. The mean age of the participants was 67.55±16.61 years with a BMI   of 27.12±5.11 kg/m². This was observed to be higher in males. In general, 11.12% and 88.02% of the study population had a good and fair health status respectively. The reported medical conditions were hypertension (35.8%), type 2 diabetes mellitus (15.0%), hypertensive-diabetic co-morbidities (14.0%), generalized body pain (54.5%) and febrile conditions (40.5%). Comparatively, medical conditions such as hypertension, generalized body
pain, respiratory and ocular problems affected the males more than females, while the reverse was the case for the
other health conditions reported. Based on the result, one can therefore conclude that the aged population is vulnerable to adverse health conditions and as such require continued health surveillance and adequate
precautionary measures.

Keywords: Health status, Medical condition, Aged people, Surveillance.