EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SELF-DEPENDENCE AMONG KUWAITI ELDERLY POPULATION OF ABDULLAH AL-SALEM AREA

Introduction
Older Americans are living longer and living better than ever before, but many of those aged 65 and older face disability, chronic health conditions or economic stress. The number and proportion of older people in the United States’ population have grown and generally will continue to grow at a very rapid pace[1]. The older population, persons 65 or older, numbered 34.1 million in 1997. They represented 12.7% of the US population, about one in every eight Americans[2]. By the year 2030, the proportion of those over the age of 85 is expected to increase by as much as six fold in some Western nations[3]. In Kuwait, the total number of elderly patients all over the country is 21,954[4], the total population of patients in Abdullah Al-Salem area is 17,083 of which the Kuwaiti geriatric patients account for 2.4% i.e., 530[4]. The problem of ageing population continues to attract the attention of the World Health Organization. For instance, Leopold (1996), quoting Alexandra Kaleche, head of World Health Organization’s department of ageing and health, reported that by 2020, more than 1.2 billion people will be over 65 years old, three quarters of them in the developing world[5]. Recognizing the importance of health supervision of the elderly, an institution for the care of the elderly was established to provide care for the relatively lonely and destitute elderly in Kuwait. However, the scope of elderly care should be consistent with the socio-cultural, psychological and physiological imperatives. There is therefore, a need to characterize the multiple factors that

are constantly interacting in the independent state of life of the elderly in the community. Understanding this will inevitably lead to a better program planning and consequently maximize the utilization of such services. There has been a lot of studies in the literature, highlighting the definition, health assessment, consequences of ageing, and how best to organize the individual and community resources to deal with it. Studies have shown that formalized comprehensive elderly assessments can result in improved survival, reduced hospital and nursing home stays, lower medical costs, and improved functional status for individuals undergoing such assessments[6]. Care of the elderly can be improved with a thorough work-up in primary care office. Pre-visit questionnaires help patients and families focus the initial interview on specific health concerns. Attention to target areas of functional disability can help direct medical care to maintain independence, as functional impairment cannot be predicted by the number or severity of medical diagnoses[6,7].