J Med Assoc Thai 2012; 95 (8):1066

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Health Status and Bio-indicators Among Elderly People in Rural Areas, Thailand
Apidechkul T Mail

Objective:This community based cross-sectional study design aimed to assess health status among people aged ≥ 60 years living in rural areas of northern Thailand.

Material and Method: The questionnaires, physical examination, and 5 milliliters of blood specimen had been obtained. The face-to-face interview was conducted by trained interviewers and physical examination made by physician. A Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were used to determine significant association at alpha = 0.05.

Results: Three hundred twenty eight subjects were recruited into the study: 60.7% had chronic diseases, 73.2% received health care at health promoting hospitals, 32.1% received regular medication, 85.4% had abnormality of mobility, 30.5% had cataract, and 11.6% had hearing loss. Females had smoked longer than males (p-value < 0.05), but males had drank alcohol longer than females (p-value < 0.05). In this group, 12.2% had Cholesterol ≥ 251 mg/dl, 27.5% had Triglyceride ≥ 171 mg/dl, 10.5% had FBS ≥ 121 mg/dl, 15.4% had SGPT ≥ 31I U/L, and 21.5% had Uric acid ≥ 7.1 mg/dl.

Conclusion: Effective health promoting program is still necessary for improving elderly health in rural Thailand.

Keywords: Health status, Bio-markers, Elderly population, Rural area, Health promoting hospital


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