Epidemiological Study of the Prevalence of Death in Older Adults Receiving Home Treatment Services in Tehran Using ICD-10, 2012-2016

Identifying the pattern and causes of death and dealing with its etiological factors is one of the most appropriate strategies to increase life expectancy. In this study, we examined the epidemiological prevalence of death in older adults receiving home treatment using International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10).

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 744 older adult death cases of over 60 years of age receiving home treatment in Tehran Dam Home Treatment Center, 2012-2016 were selected using census sampling. A researcher-made checklist was completed by reviewing the death certificates and other medical documents. Data analysis was carried out in SPSS V24.

The main causes of death were as follows: respiratory diseases (acute respiratory failure=65.86%), gastrointestinal diseases (liver cirrhosis= 47.5%), cardiovascular diseases (hypotension= 53.33%), neurological diseases (stroke= 100%), parasitic infectious diseases (septic shock= 85.48%), cancer (liver cancer= 84.62%), endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (hypoglycemic coma= 66.7%), and urogenital diseases (renal failure= 97.85%).

In population studied cardiovascular disease, respiratory and infectious-parasitic diseases were the main causes of death. Necessary care efforts are expected from aged people, their family, and the authorities to reduce the rate of death rate due to the above diseases.