A Study On The Prevalence Of Chronic Diseases And Its Risk Factors Of Community-dwelling Senior Citizens In Xi’an

Objectives：The aim of this study was to investigate the status of senior citizens’ chronicdiseases and lifestyle, analysis the relationship between chronic diseases andlifestyle of community-dwelled senior citizens in Xi’an, and further, the casecontrol study was adopted to explore the risk factors of chronic diseases,whichprovides a theorefical basis for prevention of the morbidity of senior citizen’schornic diseases, taking effective measures to postpone or eliminate theoutbreak, development of the complication, therefore, to maintain and advancethe senior citizens’ physician or mental health alleviate the economic burden ofthe family and society.Methods：1. The cross-sectional studyData were collected from13communities of4administrative areas of Xi’an by a stratified cluster random sampling method. They were surveyed by aquestionnaire including the demographic information questionnaire, the HealthPromoting Lifestyle Profile-Ⅱ(HPLP-Ⅱ),the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS),and the Medical Outcomes Study36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (MOSSF-36). Database was constructed with EpiData3.0software and data wereanalysied with SPSS16.0software. Besides descriptive ststistics, the chi-squaretest, t-test and the Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) analysis were also used.2. The matched case-control studyBased on the results of cross sectional study, the1:1matched case-controldesign was carried out to explore risk factors of cardio-cerebro-vasculardisorders. Case group was consisted of150senior citizens who had suffered oneof the three diseases, namely hypertension, coronary heart disease,cerebrovascular disease. And the control group included150healthy seniorcitizens lived in the same community. The cases and controls were matched forthe same gender and the difference in age less than two years. Data wereanalyzed by SPSS16.0software, then1:1binary Logistic regression andmultinomial Logistic regression analysis was used.Results：1. Demographics characteristicsA total of1034questionnaires were sent out, and there were1012effectivequestionnaires with an effective rate of97.9%. In the participant, male were380(37.5%)，female were632(62.5%); The average age of the study participantswas71.03(SD=6.91range=60～93) years. Education:195elders (19.3%) wereilliteracy, elementary school250(24.7%), middle school240(23.7%), secondary school218(21.5%), collage or above109(10.8%). Marriage status: married were721(71.2%), single or loss of spouse was291(28.8%). The occupation beforeretirement of the elderly, workers557(55.0%), Leaders116(11.5%)，technicians131(12.9%)，jobless149(14.7%). The income: less than500Yuan171(16.9%),500～1000Yuan277人(27.4%),1000～1500Yuan295(29.2%), more than1500Yuan269(26.6%).2. The prevlance of community-dwelled senior citizens’ chronic diseases andlifestylesThe general incidence rate of the chronic disease was85.0%, and the averagescore of lifestyle was104.29±17.28. thirteen items, namely working or not,BMI, smoking or not, drinking or not, self-actualization, having depression ornot, the total scores of quality of life, role function, physical function, body pain,general health, vitality, social function were found to be related to the incidenceof chronic diseases.3. Risk factors of cardio-cerebro-vascular disordersIt was showed that the elders with smoke, unhealthy lifestyle, the lower scoresof general health and physical function, irregularity BMI were entered theregression model after eliminating the effects of age and gender. The OR and95%CI were2.313(95%CI=1.109～4.825)、2.038(95%CI=2.000～4.702)、6.658(95%CI=3.066～14.455)、7.176(95%CI=1.380～37.303) and2.288(95%CI=3.937～1.328), respectively.Conclusions： 1. The incidence rate of the community-dwelled senior citizens’ chronic diseasesin Xi’an was very high, and the general health status of the elderly was notoptimistic.2. The health-promoting lifestyles of the elderly in communities was in themedium level or above, the scores of nutrition behaviors were the highest, whilethe scores of three items, that is, stress management, physical activity, healthresponsibility were lowest. Effective measures should be taken.3. Relevant relations existed between lifestyle and morbidity of the elderly’schronic diseases.4. Common risk factors for cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases in the elderlyinclude smoking and unhealth lifestyle, low general health scores, lowphysiological function scores and abnormal BMI.5. Recommendations of intervention: intensive attention should be paid to thehigher morbidity of senior citizens’ chronic diseases and lower score of healthresponsibility of health-promoting lifestyles. The elderly should be supported byrelative policies and social supportive system. Some effective measures shouldbe taken by the community health service center to encourage the senior citizensadopting health lifestyle, in order to eliminate chronic diseases andcomplications, and prolong the senior citizens active life expectancy.