Elderlies and medical services: demand and utilization in Tehran

To study demand and utilization of medical services in elderly and their causes. Material &

This investigation is a cross sectional study held in Tehran. Sampling was randomized and 424 multistage elderlies have been selected and their data was gathered by questionnaire. The data included demographic information, medical complaint and the utilization of medical service by elderly.

424 elders aged sixty and more have been studied. These 424 cases were detected among 1416 families with a total number of 5649 members. Thus, the elder made up 7.5 percent of the family members. The result revealed that in 2001, every 100 elders had 283 demands for medical care and 235 cases have received related medical services. Other 48 cases received no services. Also the results revealed: - Significant difference in demand between elders and others (P.value=0.000, Odds ratio=3.28, 95% Cl= 2.65 4.06) - Significant difference in demand between different groups among elderlies (P=0.000 I). - Significant difference in demand between elder women and men.

In this study, every 100 elders had 283 demands for medical care per year. 235 of them had received related services. Cardiovascular, Musculoskeletal and neuro- psychological diseases were the most common disease groups. These results neccecitate planning of preventive, treatment and rehabilitation services. Also other results of this study revealed that: - Elder women are at higher risk than men. - Those older than 70 are at higher risk than the other elderlies. Using demand rate, the health sector can calculate work load and estimate the number of health providers required for elderlies.