Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Dicle Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı, DİYARBAKIR
Dicle Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi, Halk Sağlığı Anabilim Dalı, DİYARBAKIR
Diyarbakır Devlet Hastanesi Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Kliniği-DİYARBAKIR The elderly population is an age group that increased most rapidly in the population of the world and life expectancy period is showed gradually increasing through the development of the treatment of the chronical diseases. Health problems are primary trouble due to the increasing of the elderly population and it is important to determine the details of the problems associated with the health of the elderly people. This study was scheduled to determine the ratios of disability, the frequency of chronical disease diagnosed and the ratio of the dependence on activities of daily life on the elderly people living in a specific region of Diyarbakir. Five hundred ten elderly individuals were enrolled for this study. The mean age was 66.31:t6.4 years, 233 (%45.7) of individuals were male and 277 (%54.3) were female. It was foul"\d that 95 (%18.5) of elderly people had disabilities (92 (%18.04) acquired, 3 (%0.59) congenital). It was found that the number of individuals who had one disability were 59(% 11.57), two disabilities were 23 (%4.51 ), three and more disabilities were 13 (%2.55). Visual, audial and orthopedic disabilities were found the most. There were found that 169 (%33.1) had visual disturbances and 110 (%22.2) of elderly people had audio disturbances and the number of elderly people using hearing apparatus was 6 (%1.2). The number of elderly people using walking stick was found 58 (%11.4), tripot was 5 (% 1) and quadripot was 1 (%0.02). It was found that 3 (%0.58} of elderly people stayed most of the day in bed, 16 (%3.3) of these could were active only at home, don't have the ability to go out home, 71 (% 13.92) of these were independent at home, but needed help out of home, and 420 (% 82.35) of these were independent in the activities out of home. When the groups were compared, it was found that the individuals who were 75 years old and older had higher dependency levels than others (p<0.01 ). Hypertension, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis were the most seen chronical diseases in the elderly people of this study and rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis as chronical diseases were found to effect the daily life. Also it was found that the individuals who were 75 years old or older had spent most of their time at home and needed help to go outside. Keywords : Aging, Disability, Chronic disease, Activities of Daily Life