Disease burden of elderly patients in medicine department of rural medical college of central india. a prospective observational study.

Background: The elderly population is increasing rapidly globally, and presently, India has the second largest number of elderly persons. According to 2011 census geriatric people in India is about 8.2% of the total population, so it’s essential to know the disease pattern of these people for efficient management of health demands & to plan better health care facilities for the elderly population in the society. Aims of the study: To study the disease burden of various medical disorders in the elderly patients in Bundelkhand region of Sagar district, which is a rural Government Medical College of central India serving mainly rural population of this region. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective, observational, cross sectional study. The study was conducted in the admitted patients as well as the patients attending Medicine OPD. The data were collected by history, detailed clinical examination & review of old records as per proforma. Results: Total 250 patients were included in the study. out of which 132 (52.8%) patients were male & 118 (47.2%) were females. Mean age of our patients for male patients were 69.73 ± 6.37 and for females 66.44 ± 6.59. Ratio of Male: Female in our study is 1.2:1 .In our study majority of cases are of respiratory system (n= 114,45.6%), Cardio vascular (n=86,34.6%), Visual system (Cataract) (n=92,36.8%), Musculo skeletal (78,31.2%), hearing loss (n=83,33.3%), Nutritional ( n=52, 20.8%) Neurological (n=49, 19.6%). Conclusion: The study shows high incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, coronary artery disease, Diabetes mellitus and pulmonary tuberculosis in the study. Majority of the patients have more than one comorbidity. Keywords: Elderly, COPD, CAD, Hypertension, DM, Pulmonary TB,