The health status of the elderly of Guilan province

The population aging is a well-known process as a result of demographic transition. The most important factors affecting population aging include decreased mortality, especially in infants and children (due to improved health conditions), increased life expectancy, reduced fertility and consequently decreasing population growth has led to fundamental changes in the age structure of most societies. According to the Population and Housing Census of 2015 of Iran , Guilan province has 335312 elderly people, over 60 years old, equivalent to 13.25% of the total population of the province (11.45% urban and 16.35% rural), with the highest population rate in the country. Of these, the elderly, 51.26% were women and 48.7% were men. Counties of Amlash with 16.68%, Rudsar with 16.53% and Lahijan with 16.21% have the highest percentage of elderly population and Talesh with 9.33% and Astara with 9.48% have the lowest elderly population among the sixteen counties of the province. Most of the elderly are in the age group of 60-69 years old. Other studies in the elderly population of the province have shown that most of elderly people are illiterate and the rate of illiteracy in women was higher than in men and in the rural area is higher than in the urban. 31% of the urban elderly men and 52.1% of the rural elderly men were still employed in their old age. 5.7% of elderly men and 18.3% of elderly women lived in the urban and 7.6% of elderly men, 19.3% of women lived in the rural areas. 10% of the urban elderly lived in sheltered homes. Most of the problems encountered in the elderly include financial, health and transportation difficulties. 24% of the urban elderly and 19% of the rural elderly people had an accident, the most important of which was falling. 18% of the urban elderly and 17% of the rural elderly were hospitalized at least once a year due to illness or accident. The most common causes of hospitalization were cardiovascular diseases and Cataract disease. More than two thirds of the elderly in the province have at least one disease.The rapid growth of the elderly population in the province, the health problems of these people in the near future, will become an important challenge to social and health welfare systems if the essential infrastructures are not prepared. In order to face the challenge in a comprehensive and effective way, the development of a health system is essential for accountability and responsiveness to the health needs of the elderly. Accordingly, public coverage and active provision of integrated health services to the elderly population and financial support for the elderly are among the most important goals of the country s health development program

کلیدواژه ها:

health status ، elderly ، Guilan