Investigating socio-demographic and economic factors affecting the health of the elderly in Khorram Abad city

Dissertation for Master's degree (M.A)

Dissertation abstract (including summary, objectives, implementation methods and results obtained):

The evolution of the age structure of the world population is the result of demographic transition and reduction of mortality and fertility. With increasing age, the health of the elderly can be threatened. The elderly have the fastest population growth rate among the age groups, and in the near future, the elderly population will increase in developing countries such as Iran, including the city of Khorram Abad. The aging of the population is both one of the great human successes and one of the major problems of the world today. The current research aims to investigate the social, demographic and economic characteristics affecting the physical and mental health of the elderly living in Khorram Abad city. The research is a descriptive and survey study. The statistical population of men and women over 60 years of age living in Khorramabad city and the calculated sample size was 379 people (129 rural people and 250 urban people) and the random sampling method was simple.  The results of the survey show that the elderly in Khorram Abad have more physical health than mental health. Determining factors of dependent variables of physical health and mental health, independent variables are age, number of children born, number of living children, place of marriage, activity status of the respondent and activity of the respondent's spouse. Physical and mental health mutually influence each other, but mental health is the most influential variable on physical health. The physical health of men in Khorramabad city is better than that of women, but there is no difference between the two groups in terms of mental health.  

Key words: mental health, elderly, physical health, old age, age structure

Introduction

The improvement of living conditions and increase in life expectancy has followed the phenomenon of aging in most societies, and the United Nations has proposed the "Active Aging" program for the elderly. Active aging means maximizing the level of health, participation and security of the elderly in order to strengthen the quality of life. Their lives, each of which requires its own social, health, cultural, and economic provisions, and considering that the world population is moving toward old age, it will create new issues. Therefore, investigating the social, demographic, and economic factors affecting the physical and mental health of the elderly and the issues related to the elderly are of special importance. According to the latest United Nations research, the death rate in developing countries has decreased significantly and the average life expectancy of the elderly has also increased. In developed countries, the ratio of people over 65 years old to the total population has reached 16%, which is about 3.5% for developing countries. According to the report of the Statistics Center of Iran in the 1385 census, the number of elderly people over 60 years old in Iran is about 1.5 million. This amount is about 7.3% of the country's population and 6.7% in Lorestan province and 6.2% in Khorramabad city. In the 2013 census, 2.8 percent of the country's elderly population, equivalent to 6.2 million, are over 60 years old, and the country has now entered the first stage of old age, i.e., the population over 60 years old is between 7 and 14 percent. If this trend continues, from now on in Iran we will witness a population that will be referred to as an elderly population (Iran Statistical Center 2015, 2016). Among the reasons that encouraged demographers to investigate the issue of aging are the prediction of a decrease in fertility and mortality in developing countries reaching the stage of old age on the one hand, as well as the concern of government policymakers in that country to properly plan to prepare for the issue of population aging, as well as the emphasis of the United Nations in the year 1982 was the issue of aging at the Vienna summit (Kinsella[1] quoted by Martin and Preston[2] 1994).

In general, today the issues and problems of the elderly that are related to the increase in their number and proportion have become so important from the point of view of the nations of the world that 1999 has been called the International Year of the Elderly (Iranian Statistical Center, 2015). Although the main public health challenge in the 20th century, increasing life expectancy So, in the 21st century, "life with a better quality" is the most important concern in this field. It is obvious because the goal of the elderly's life is not only to have a long life and to be alive, but the type and quality of their life is also important. Therefore, improving the quality of life of the elderly in the first stage requires having comprehensive information about their quality of life.Also, the increase in the number of elderly people suffering from disability and dysfunction and the lack of a support system in the family due to the reduction of families, the employment of women and the dispersion of family members will increase the demand for long-term care of the elderly in the coming decades (Sajdi et al. 2004: 36, 105, 108). The expansion of urbanization and mechanized life, which requires the acceptance of new ways of life, has a negative effect on health, especially human health. and in connection with the category of health, he has specified other dimensions. These two dimensions are the mental and physical health of the people of the society. A category that, although it is not new, but from a specialized point of view, it has not been a long time that it has been paid attention to. The World Health Organization has also defined health, well-being, complete physical, mental, and social well-being and the absence of physical illness. Meanwhile, aging is a change that has taken place with the passage of time, it has positive and negative aspects and includes the dynamics of biological processes, perception, growth and development, and maturity. Paying attention to the prevalence of mental illnesses in society, the importance of efforts to improve people's mental health becomes more evident. The most important issue in this connection is the prevention of issues that disrupt the physical and mental health of the people in the society and of course have negative consequences. It is not possible to prevent the occurrence of these factors except by familiarizing and examining the social, demographic and economic factors affecting the physical and mental health of the elderly in the society in which we intend to prevent. Because familiarity with the current situation helps us to use appropriate methods to eliminate threatening factors in physical and mental health and to use appropriate methods and tools in this direction. The discussion of the physical and mental health of the elderly is of particular importance due to the generation of children, and from a scientific point of view, the role of physical and mental health in the life expectancy of the elderly is valuable.     At this time when people's lives are becoming more and more automated, the role of the elderly in their lives cannot be ignored because they are full of experience. The progress, dynamism and elevation of any society is possible by having healthy and efficient elements and members in that society, people who, in addition to the proper physical condition, are also in a balanced and desirable level in terms of mental and emotional condition. Undoubtedly, the desired result of combining physical and mental health is to have a flourishing society with a bright future. Mental health is a very important category because the influence of mind and spirit on physical performance is not hidden from anyone. Addressing this debate is necessary and necessary because of its importance, and we should not forget that many of these elderly people were healthy, powerful, creative, thoughtful, educated and resourceful people until a few years ago, and each of them served the society in one or more scientific, cultural, artistic, economic, and other fields. So it is necessary for the society to consider them as national capital and to take acceptable steps to maintain and improve their health, comfort and well-being. Therefore, the current research was conducted with the aim of determining the social, demographic and economic factors affecting the physical and mental health of the elderly in Khorramabad city, and by knowing the physical and mental health status of the elderly community, they will help people who intend to plan for the future of that community to make reasonable conclusions. It was announced that this number will reach one billion and 968 million and 153 people by 2050, while currently 60% of elderly people live in developing countries (United Nations 2006). At present, 2.8% of the total population of Iran is made up of elderly people over 60 years old, which is equivalent to 6.2 million people. It is expected that this figure will reach 26 million and 393 thousand people by 2050, equivalent to 26 percent of the country's total population. The life expectancy for Iranian men and women after the age of 60 has reached 17 and 18 years, respectively, between 2005 and 2010. The annual population growth rate between 1375 and 1385 censuses in Iran is 1.6 percent, while the growth rate of the elderly population is 7.3 percent, equivalent to 5.2 million people, and between 1385 and 1390 census, the growth rate is 2.8 percent, equivalent to 6.2 million people. Considering the current structure of the country's population, it is expected that in the coming years this population will increase more than the past, and the increase in the ratio of old age in our country will show itself from 1420 onwards (Iran Statistics Center 1381, 1385, 1390).