Ability of daily living and its influencing factors among rural elderly in Dabieshan Mountain area

Objective To examine the status of activities of daily living(ADL)and its influencing factors among rural elderly population in the Dabieshan Mountain area. Methods Totally 1 117 rural elderly aged 60 years and older were chosen with cluster sampling from a town of Dabieshan Mountain area and then their ADL was measured with a self-designed questionnaire and the influencing factors of ADL were analyzed with multinomial logistic regression. Results The total number of valid questionnaires was 1 117(353 for male and 764 for female).The mean age of the elderly was 70.17±6.624 years and the mean score of ADL was 19.37±7.097.The prevalence rate of reduced ADL in the elderly was 73.1%.The results of univariate analyses showed that age,marital status,chronic disease,and living condition could influence ADL in the eledrly(P<0.05).The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that age, economic control,whether with chronic disease,physical training,and living condition affected ADL of the elderly(P<0.05 for all). Conclusion The reduced ADL among rural elderly in Dabieshan Mountain area was prevalent and living condition and quality of life of the elderly should be improved.Age,physical training,economic control,whether with chronic disease,and living condition were significant predicting variables of ADL.