Wijesiri HSMSK, De Silva Weliange, SH, Wijeyaratne, CN, Wasalathanthri, S. 2020, Comparison of activity limitations among different age groups of elderly living in informal caregiving settings in Colombo district, Sri Lanka, 2nd International Conference on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine 2020, 5th December, 2020.
Background:
Elderly population is increasing worldwide. The decline of performance of activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) impairs their QoL. Aims/Objectives: To compare ADL and IADL between elderly of different age groups living in informal caregiver settings in Colombo district, Sri Lanka.
Methods:
This community based cross sectional study investigated 723 participants over 65 years. A representative sample was obtained by multi-stage cluster sampling. Validated Sinhala versions of 10-item Barthel Index of ADL and Lawton IADL scales were used to obtain data. Statistical analysis was by SPSS.
Results:
The mean (+SD) ADL and IADL scores of the total sample were 94.42±17.1 (out of 100), and 6.6+2.3 (out of 8). ADL; IADL scores in age groups of 65-74, 75-84 and >85 were 96.62; 7.05, 90.12; 5.75 and 86.02; 4.36 respectively with statistically significant differences. Of all elderly, 16.9% had ≥1 ADL limitation and 39.4% had ≥1 IADL limitation. Age was positively associated with both ADL (Odds Ratio [OR] = 1.101, p<0.05) and IADL (OR = 1.107, p<0.05) limitations when adjusted for gender and civil status. Out of the elderly who had at least one ADL limitation, 91.8% (n=112) also had at least one IADL limitation. Conclusions and Recommendations: Majority of elderly were independent. However, a decline of the ability of performing ADL and IADL was observed with advancing age. Majority of elderly with ADL limitations also had IADL limitations. Although there is a marked variation in care requirements between elderly, an increase in quality of care seems mandatory with advancing age.
Keywords:
Age, ADL, elderly, IADL, informal caregiving settings
