Functional impairments: A study in elderly individuals

India stands second to China in its elderly population. Functional impairments are common in elderly due to various physical &psychosocial factors. The Objectives were (1) To study the different functional impairments in elderly patients; (2) To study the socio-demographic correlates associated with functional impairments in these elderly patients. A Cross-sectional study was conducted among 492 individuals in the age group of 65 years and above. Data was tabulated and analyzed by using statistical software package of SPSS 7.0 version. It was observed that 36.2% of the study individuals had at least one or more functional impairments. The common ones were visual (46.7%), difficulty in moving one or both lower limbs (42.3%) & difficulty in adjusting with the physical home environment (32.9%). Multiple Logistic Regression analysis revealed that age group of 75 years and above, history of death in the family within last twelve months and above, a history of accidents during last 5 years and presence of three or more chronic illnesses were independently associated with functional impairments in elderly individuals.