Evaluation of Socio-Demographic Factors and Morbidity Pattern among Elderly Patients in a Teaching Hospital in South-South Nigeria

Aim: This study was to evaluate the sociodemographic factors and morbidity pattern among elderly patients in order to support the equitable distribution of the few healthcare resources. Study Design: A hospital-based cross-sectional analytical descriptive study. Place and duration of study: The study was conducted at the General Out-Patient Clinic of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt. The duration of study was three months. Methodology: Three hundred and eighty-four (384) study participants were recruited by systematic random sampling. The data were collected using structured questionnaire which assessed health problems related to general signs and symptoms and classified patients’ problems into reason for encounter, problems/diagnosis managed and interventions. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. Chi square (x2) statistics was used to assess association between categorical variables. The statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: A total of 878 health problems were reported based on the ICPC-2. The reasons for encounter were related to musculoskeletal (18.8%), general body symptoms (14.8%), neurological problems (14.7%) and problems related to the ear (0.9%). None of the respondent reported blood related problems. A total of 799 morbidities were diagnosed with an average of 2.1 each (range 1-5), the most prevalent morbidities were related to the cardiovascular system (24.7%), musculoskeletal system (13.8%) and digestive system (13.0%) and the least number of morbidities were found in the female genitalia (0.3%). The relationship between general body symptoms (GBS), musculoskeletal, mental health and nutritional/endocrine conditions, and gender were statistically significant (GBS p-value = 0.034, musculoskeletal, p=0.000, mental health p=0.001, nutrition p=0.000).  Women reported more health problems than men. The majority (70.1%) of the men were still married, while most (88.6%) of the women were widowed.  Although the largest proportion (56.0%) of the respondents was from social class V with the female forming the bulk (67.9%), there was no statistically significant association except for blood related morbidity (p-value =0.005). Also, there was statistically significant relationship between morbidity pattern and age groups for blood related diseases (p-value =0.010), digestive system (p-value = 0.003), musculoskeletal system (p-value =0.000), and neurological problems (p-value = 0.001). Statistically significant association was found between marital status and morbidities related to ear (p-value =0.002), musculoskeletal (p-value = 0.000), endocrine/metabolic/nutrition (p-value = 0.023) and male genital (p-value = 0.000). Conclusion: The most prevalent morbidities of the elderly were chronic medical conditions related to the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, digestive, endocrine systems as well as nutritional and eye diseases.  As the ageing population rises with attendant age – related multi morbidities, there is need to have geriatric care plan in our hospitals for a comprehensive continuing healthcare service.