Turkish Journal of
GERIATRICS

Gazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Halk Sağlığı A.B., Ankara
Gazi Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon A.B., Ankara The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and diagnosis of elderly patients who have attended to the physical medicine and rehabilitation(PMR) outpatient clinic of a university hospital during a period of three months. The patients attending to the PMR outpatient clinic from October to December 2000 were analysed, and age, gender and diagnosis of each patient was coded to the data cod paper. Diseases were grouped into 7 main headings. The software program SPSS for Windows Version 9.0 was used for the statistical analysis. In this study, a total of 1592 patients was analysed. 68.2 % (1085) of the patients was women and 31.8 % (507) was men. Three hundred and fifty-eight (22.5%) patients were 60- year old and over, and 71.8 % of these elderly patients was women and 28.2 % was men. There was no statistically significant difference in distribution of elderly patients according to their age groups and gender(p=0.32). Degenerative joint disease was the most common diagnosis in all age groups and in both genders. Next common diagnosis was the disorders of spine, except the degenerative and inflammatory ones, in men and osteoporosis in women. According to our results; the most common diagnosis in elderly patients who were attending to a PMR outpatient clinic was degenerative joint diseases and was in accordance with previous studies. Keywords : Elderly, Geriatry, Inflammatory Joint Disease, Degenerative Joint Disease, Osteoporosis, Osteoartrit