Study On The Influencing Factors Of Ability Of Daily Living Among The Elderly In Six Provinces Of China

Objective: To study the impairment rate and its influencing factors of the activities of daily living of the elderly by investigating the activities of the daily living(ADL)from six provinces(cities)in China.This study will provide references to improve the impairment of daily living of the elderly and the quality of life of the elderly.Methods: One rural and one urban community were selected from each of six provinces(Anhui,Shanghai,Guangdong,Heilongjiang,Shanxi and Hubei)as the study fields,trying to recruit no fewer than 500 participants in the each community.We employed a cluster randomised sampling method to choose residential communities from each of the six provinces.We used general health and risk factors questionnaire to investigate the ability of daily living of the elderly.The research participants could not have serious deafness or have aphasia that caused no communicate,and the target population consisted of residents aged≥60 years living in the area for at least 5 years.All the data were imputed into computers by EpiData3.1and analyzed by SPSS18.0.The count data was conducted with composition ratio or rate.Chi square test was used to examine differences in ADL impairment group and ADL normal group,and we explored the factors of the ability of daily living of the elderly by univariate analysis and binary logistic regression analysis.Results:(1)Among the 6980 research participants,there were 3105 males and 3875 females with an average age of 72.22 ± 7.58 years.6146 elderly’s ADL were normal,it accounted for 88.1%.A total of 834 elderly’s ADL with varying degrees of impairment,which accounted for 11.9%.(2)Comparing the ADL impairment group and ADL normal group,it showed that there were statistic significances(P<0.05)in age,marital status,annual personal income,educational level,urban/rural community,occupational status,life satisfaction,self-assessed health status,hobbies,intelligence games,physical exercise,religion,number of children,relatives communication situation,friend communication situation,neighbor communication situation,the situation where they get help timely,body mass index(BMI),the prevalence of chronic diseases,eyesight,hearing status,health changes in the last two years,serious economic difficulties in the last two years,the intimate died in the last two years,conflicts with relatives and friends in the last two years,sad things in the last two years.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the age≥80 years(OR=4.79,95%CI: 3.69-6.21),70~years old(OR=2.13,95%CI: 1.68-2.71),males(OR= 1.63,95 % CI:1.34-1.97),non-spouse(OR = 1.54,95 % CI: 1.27-1.88),rural community(OR = 2.47,95 % CI: 1.81-3.37),non-farmer(OR = 0.74,95 % CI: 0.57-0.96),poor life satisfaction(OR = 1.84,95 % CI: 1.20-2.82),self-assessed general physical health(OR=1.59,95%CI: 1.30-1.95),self-assessed poor health(OR=3.23,95% CI: 1.20-2.82),hobbies(OR=0.53,95%CI: 0.44-0.63),playing intelligence games(OR=0.61,95%CI: 0.47-0.80),not living alone(OR=1.62,95%CI: 1.20-2.18),the number of children ≥ 4(OR = 1.28,95 % CI: 1.06-1.54),occasionally communicate with their relatives(OR = 0.64,95 % CI: 0.46-0.89),occasionally communicate with friends(OR = 0.50,95 % CI: 0.30-0.80),often communicate with friends(OR=0.54,95%CI: 0.34-0.87),often communicate with neighbors(OR=0.55,95%CI:0.34-0.87),suffering from chronic diseases≥3 species(OR=1.94,95%CI: 1.33-2.84),hearing impairment(OR=1.81,95%CI: 1.33-2.84),visual impairment(OR=1.23,95%CI: 1.01-1.50),the health status was significantly changed in the past two years(OR=1.63,95%CI: 1.31-2.84)and severe economic difficulties in the past two years(OR=1.62,95%CI: 1.17-2.24)were influencing factors of ADL impairment in the elderly.Conclusion: The impairment rate of the ability of daily living of the elderly in six provinces(cities)was 11.9% in China.The old age,male,non spouse,living in rural areas,farmer,low life satisfaction,poor self-assessed health,no interest,no intellectual games,non-solitary,the number of children≥4,no communicate with their relatives,no communicate with friends,no communicate with neighbors,suffering from chronic diseases,visual impairment,hearing impairment,health status changes in the last two years and serious economic difficulties in the last two years were influencing factors of ADL impairment.Suggestions:(1)Clear the importance of ADL,improve the attention of whole people;(2)Grasp the risk factors accurately,and focus on high-risk groups to intervene;(3)Focus on the individual physical and mental health,carry out chronic disease prevention and treatment actively;(4)Develop and utilize the multi resources,build a new pattern with multi pronged approach.