Prevalence of Physical Diseases and Disorders in Retired Armed Forces; a Case Study of Tehran City, Iran

Aims: The first step to respond to the health needs of the retirees of the military organizations is to identify such needs. The aim of the study was to determine the frequencies of physical problems and diseases of the military retirees, as well as to determine the potential impact of the services provided by the military organiztions on the old-age health needs.
Instrument & In the cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study, 299 military retirees, who were residing in Tehran, were studied between 2013 and 2015. The subjects were selected via available purposeful sampling method method. Data was collected by the study questionnaire consisted of the abbreviated mental test score (AMTS) and a researcher-made questionnaire as the main survey of the study. Data was analyzed by SPSS 16 software using descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA and independent T tests.
Findings: 159 retirees (%53.2) were without any communication-limiting physical problem. Nevertheless, the most prevalent limiting disorder was the auditory problems (12.0%). 144 retirees (48.2%) were with active diseases, and the most prevalent diseases were high blood pressure (21.5%) and diabetes (19.4%). Totally, the physical health status was declared by 214 retirees (71.6%), and 15 retirees (5.0%), 77 retirees (25.7%), and 99 retirees (33.1%) declared their own satisfaction levels as very good, good, and moderate, respectively.
The most important health problems of the military retirees are the chronic non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardio-vascular diseases. Only one third of the subjects are satisfied with their own health status.