A cross sectional observational study on non-communicable diseases among elderly population in block hazratbal, district srinagar

Majority of Elderly population aged 60 years and above will be in the developing countries as their population will reach 1.2 billion by the year 2025(1). Major health issues which they face in this age group are Non-communicable diseases like hypertension, coronary artery disease, strokes, diabetes mellitus, obesity, cancers, cataracts, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, chronic obstructive airway disease, benign hyperplasia of prostate, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Senile Dementia and depression (2). It has been estimated by W.H.O that by 2020, heart disease and stroke will become the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, and the number of fatalities projected to increase to more than 24 million by 2030 (3).Burden of diseases is shifting from communicable to non-communicable in the developing countries of Asia because of the Demographic and epidemiological transitions taking place in this part of the world India's poor are at heightened risk of acquiring NCDs owing to high rate of smoking, tobacco use and high salt intake. So this paper analyses the links between sociodemographic correlates and non-communicable diseases in block Hazratbal, district Srinagar. Objectives:1) To estimate the prevalence of NCDs among study population.2)To find out the socio-demographic correlates of NCDs in the study population. Study design: A Community Based, Cross sectional study. Study population: Elderly (≥60 years) persons residing in selected geographical area. Results: In this study, majority of the elderly study population were suffering from Hypertension/Ischemic/Other heart diseases (52.2%) followed by COPD (11.4%), Arthritis/other Musculoskeletal problems (10.6%), Diabetes mellitus (10.4%). Gastritis (9.8%), Hypothyroidism (9.6%), Benign prostrate hypertrophy (9.4%). The main reason for high prevalence of Hypertension/Ischemic heart disease could be that we take lots of salty products in our daily diet. Other causes could be living in a conflict area or genetic susceptibility. Most of elderly study subjects 446(89.9%) were on drugs for their chronic diseases.