Appraisal of clinical, psychosocial, and environmental health of elderly in Saudi Arabia: A household survey

This was a cross-sectional national survey of the elderly population of Sau di Arabia conducted between January 1994 and December 1995. The participant s' physical, mental, social, and environmental health status were assessed in a personal interview during which a structured data form was completed b y a trained research team. Data on 6,139 elderly participants have been ana lyzed: 64.2 percent were males mean age: 69.2 +/- 7.8 years which was highe r than females 68.0 +/- 7.6 years (P < 0.0001). The widowhood (46.7%) statu s was also higher than the widowerhood (4.1%) and 9.3 percent of the partic ipants were never married. The proportion of female illiterates (95.8%) was higher than the males (71.4%). The proportion of participants with definit e psychopathology was 33.8 percent and this increased with age and higher a mong females than males. Overall, 18.8 percent were dependent on others for ADL. Other clinical findings included visual impairment (46.1%) and diffic ulty in hearing (19.9%). However, a sizeable majority (72.2%) enjoyed good health. Only 3.7 percent lived alone. The proportion of the elderly taking part in any recreational exercise was 14.7 percent and only 4.3 percent had any experience of physical therapy. There were no special hospital wards f or the elderly patients, and they were treated by general internists. There is a need for a national cost-effective program for the: care of the elder ly. The present widespread primary health care centers can be upgraded to c oordinate the proposed services.