Geriatric Health Problems of the Elderly Garo People in Madhupur Upazila of Tangail District

Abstract

The growing number of older people is an emerging challenge for Bangladesh because of experiencing age structural transition. Older people, especially elderly ethnic people are vulnerable to various health problems as various geriatric problems come naturally with old age. However, little attention has been paid on this issue in Bangladesh. The objective of this article is to assess the self-reported health status of the elderly Garo people in Madhupur Upazila of Tangail. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted, targeting Garo population aged 60 years or above to attain the objective of the paper. A total 400 respondents were interviewed for this study. The result shows that among the elderly Garo, 50% stated their health status as poor, 38% as fair and 12% as good. Most common reported illnesses were low vision (67%), walking problem (55%), rheumatism (54%), Gastric (52%), cold or cough (47%), headache (39%), skin disease (25%), high blood pressure (23%) and asthma (14%). Rheumatism, headache and gastric were found to be more common in elderly females than that of males with significant differences. Age group, employment status, smoking tobacco and drinking (alcohol) behavior, emerged as the most significant determinants of self reported health status. Elderly having age 80 years or above were 2.600 times more likely to report their health status as poor than the elderly aged 60-69 years (OR 2.600, 95% CI: 1.352-4.997). Employed elderly were 0.279 times less likely to report their health status as poor than those who were unemployed (OR 0.279, 95% CI: 0.166-0.470). Elderly Garo who hadn’t the habit of smoking were 0.589 times less likely (OR 0.589, 95% CI: 0.376-0.922) and who hadn’t the habit of drinking alcohol were 1.971times more likely (OR 1.971, 95% CI: 1.233-3.149) to perceive their health to be poor than the elderly who had these habits. This study also found that high blood pressure and asthma were statistically associated with drinking (alcohol) behavior and smoking habit respectively. The study findings suggest that specific health related program should focus in that locality to cure and prevent the most prevalent diseases.