Study of Health and Disease Status in Elderly people of Ilam Province

The most prevalent cases related to death in elderly is non-communicable disease such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and stroke, which most of them are preventable. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of physical and mental disorders in elderly people in Ilam. In a cross-sectional study, using cluster sampling a sample of 1012 participants from Ilam province was recruited. Data was collected with using a questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version 17 and parametric and non-parametric tests. The mean body mass index, was 25.724.48 kg/m2, of them, more than half (55.2 %) were either overweight or obese. The most prevalent physical and mental disorders were; history of arthritis72.8%)), blood pressure (53.0%), vision problem (49.8%), history of infectious disease (43.9%), sleep disorder (40.1%), heart disease(36.1%), urinary disorders (30.6%), history of mental illness(24.6%), respiratory disorders (22.5%), diabetes (14.8%) and stroke (12.6%) respectively. Falling from height with 18% was the most important accident in our study sample.Discussion & Physical problems in elderly people of Ilam province are moderately similar to other reports across the country. The main difference was due to low socioeconomic status resulting from lower income in these areas.