Assessment of the functional status of elderly subjects in Qassim Region,Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of elderly subjects aged 65 years and above, resident in Qassim region, in central Saudi Arabia. The sample size was 266 subjects (12%). The study objective was to assess the subjects' functional activities in the form of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Wadu, the Muslim tradition of washing before the main five daily prayers was included in the ADL.

The results showed that impairment of ADL, ADL and Wadu, and IADL was observed in 12.4%, 7.9% and 54.4% of subjects. Advancing age and female gender were found to be negatively, while male gender and having an occupation were found to be positively associated with functional activity.

Keywords

Elderly functional status

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Al-Maarik I.A. (1987). Burraidah. 2nd Ed. Riyadh: Saudi Book House Est

Burton J. (1984). Managing urinary incontinence : a common geriatric problem. Geriatrics; 39, 46-62

Burton J.R. and Solomon D.H. (1993). Geriatric medicine: A true primary care discipline (editorial). J Am Geriatr Soc; 41, 45 9-462

Chino N. (1990). Efficacy of Barthel Index in Evaluating Activities of Daily Living in Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. Stroke; 21 (Suppl 2), 64-65

Dean AG , Dean J.A. , Burton A.H. and Dicker R.C. (1990). Epi-Info Version 6.0: a word processing, database and statistics program for epidemiology and microcomputers. Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA: USD Incorporated

Economic Commission For Western Asia (1981 ). Statistical Abstract of the Region of the Economic Commission for Western Asia 1970-1979. Beirut: The Commission

Fillenbaum G. and Symer M. (1981). The Development, Validity and Reliability of the OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire. J Gerontol; 36(4), 428-434

George L. and Fillenbaum G. (1985). OARS Methodology: A Decade of Experience in Geriatric Assessment. J Am Geriatr Soc; 33(9), 607-615

Grundy E. (1992). The epidemiology of ageing. In: Textbook of Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, pp 3-20 ( J C Brocklehurst , R C Tallis , H M Fillit , eds). London: Churchill Livingstone

10.

Jette A. and Branch L. (1981). The Framingham Disability Study: II Physical Disability among the Ageing. Am J Public Health; 71, 1211-1216

11.

Jones D. , Victor C. and Vetter N. (1983). Carers of the elderly in the community. J Roy Coll Gen Pract; 33, 707-710

12.

Kelly-Hayes M. , Jette A. , Wolf P. D'Agostino R. and Odell P. (1992). Functional Limitations and Disability among elders in the Framingham Study. Am J Public Health; 82, 841-845

13.

Pan American Health Organization (1989). A Profile of the Elderly in Argentina. Washington DC: Paho

14.

Pearlman D. and Crown W. (1992). Alternative Sources of Social Support and their Impacts on Institutional Risk. Gerontologist; 32, 527-535

15.

Spss/Pc+ (1990). Statistical package version 4.0. SPSS Inc

16.

Thompson M.P. and Tollison J.W. (1990). Caring for the elderly. In: Textbook of Family Practice, pp 140-180 ( R E Rakel , ed). Philadelphia: Saunders

17.

United Nations (1982). Report of the World Assembly on Ageing. UN Document No A/CONF/113/31 Vienna: United Nations

18.

Wilcock G K , Gray J A and Long-More J M (eds) (1991). Geriatric problems in general practice. London : Oxford University Press

19.

World Health Organization (1993). Global Outlook 2000. WHO technical report series No 8(1). Geneva: World Health Organization