Health of the Elderly in India:A Socio-Legal Study

Context: To study the health and social problems of the elderly and their attitude towards life. Materials and Method: Descriptive study carried out in the Field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine in South India. A total of 213 elderly patients (60 years old and above) who attended the outreach clinics were interviewed using a pre-tested schedule. Findings were described in terms of proportions and percentages to study the socio-economic status of the samples and its correlation to social problems. Results: Around 73% of the patients belonged to the age group of 60-69 years old. Nearly half of the respondents were illiterate. Around 48% felt they were not happy in life. A majority of them had health problems such as hypertension followed by Arthritis, Diabetes, Asthma, Cataract, and Anemia. About 68% of the patients said that the attitude of people towards the elderly was that of neglect.