Health status of aging people in rural area of Lhasa city

ObjectiveTo examine health status of aging people in rural area of Lhasa city for the improvement of health education and health care in aging people.MethodsMulti-stage stratified random sampling was used to select 298 people aged 60 years or older from 17 villages in Lhasa city.Trained interviewers administered face-to-face survey in the elder people.ResultsAmong the elderly,79.2%(236/298) were illiterate and 42.6%(127/298) had chronic diseases with a two-week illness prevalence of 45.5%.The top five diseases in the eldenly with chronic diseases were arthritis(37.0%,47/127),hypertension(26.8%,34/127),heart disease(18.9%,24/127),gastroenteritis(13.4%,17/127),and biliary tract disease(8.7%,11/127).The rates of smoking and alcohol drinking were higher in men than in women.The rate of physical examination (22.1%) in the rural women was higher than in the men with a significant defference (χ²=4.844,P<0.005).ConclusionThe physical condition of elderly people in the rural of Lhasa is not good and health education on healthy life style should be promoted among the population.