Abstract
CONTEXT: The phenomenon of population aging being inevitable, and the elderly being an asset to society by their skills and experience, their health and well-being is of paramount importance. Wherein self-rated physical health is an indicator which measures the healthy life perceived by an individual, their functional status gives an account of their independency to lead an independent life. AIMS: To assess self-rated health (SRH) and its association with activities of daily living among the elderly. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out in the urban slums of the field practice area of a medical college in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. METHODS AND MATERIAL: Systematic random sampling was used to identify households and select 400 consenting individuals aged 60 years and above. A semi-structured questionnaire having sections on socio-demographic factors, self-rated health and validated Activities of daily living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) instruments were used to collect data. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Continuous variables were presented as mean ± SD; categorical variables as frequency and percentage., Chi-square test as a test of association. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 400 elderly people were surveyed, majority (51.75%) were females. A higher proportion (69.25%) of the study population belonged to the age group of 60-69 years. Around 59.75% of the respondents were illiterate. The majority (57.5%) reported to have "good" Self-Rated Health (SRH). Among those who had a good SRH, 97.13% were fully functional and this was also found to have a statistically significant association (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Among the respondents, the majority reported having "good" self-rated health. The SRH also had an association with their functional status. It is recommended that SRH be used as a proxy marker with their functional status and independence to carry out their daily activities.