PUNE: The elderly population in rural Pune on an average suffers from at least two or more diseases, which is much more than their North Indian counterparts, a study done by the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune and other institutions has revealed.

A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the morbidity profile of the elderly population in Kasurdi village in Maval taluka of Pune district.

In all, 214 subjects aged 60 years and above were examined. Data was collected by structured interviews and clinical and laboratory examinations.

Of the 214 subjects, 190 were suffering from some or the other diseases and major illnesses were visual in 56 per cent, joints problems in 38.3 per cent, respiratory ailments in 32.7 per cent, and hypertension in 28 per cent of the total population (see box).

The study titled ‘Geriatric health: Need to make it an essential element of primary health care’ has been published in the Indian Journal of Public Health.

It has been authored by Sunil Agrawal, associate professor and Atul Kotwal, professor of the department of community medicine, AFMC, along with Commanding Officer (SHO), Namkun-Jharkhand, Jayant Deo; Commandant, Military Hospital, Dehradun-Uttaranchal, A K Verma.

"In our study, the average number of illnesses per person was found to be 2.61, which was in consonance with the studies among the elderly in South India (2.42). But it was higher than the elderly in rural North India (1.93).