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Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Assessment of Disease Morbidity Pattern and Health Care Seeking Behaviour among the Elderly in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria

Margaret Uyilewhoma Inde, Jimmy Ebi Eko, Simon Alain Inah, Promise Iwara Eyo

International Journal of TROPICAL DISEASE & Health · pp. 1–10 · Published 17 Apr 2019

10.9734/ijtdh/2019/v35i430129

Abstract

Aims: This study was aimed at assessing disease morbidity pattern and health care seeking behaviour among the elderly in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study design Place and Duration of Study: Calabar Municipal Local Government Area, Cross River State between Feburary 2015 to March 2015. Methodology: Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 200 elderly persons who gave consent to participate in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Data collected were collated and analysed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 and results were presented in tables. Chi-square was used to test for association between categorical variables. Results: The result obtained showed that respondents within the age bracket of 65-69years 74(37.0%) constituted majority followed by those aged 70-74years 56(28.0%) and 75-79years 42(21.0%). More than half of the respondents 110(55%) were females while the remaining 90(45%) were males. This study revealed that malaria 50(23.1%), high blood pressure 43(19.9%) and joint pain/arthritis 31(14.4%) were the most identified health problems suffered by the elderly and the hospital/healthcare centre was where most elderly persons sought for treatment whenever they fall ill. Expenditure on health services received was largely out-of-pocket expenditure 86(43.0%). Other respondents revealed that their children 64(32.0%), relatives/in-laws 28(14.0%), spouse 16(8.0%) and friend(s) 6(3.0%) were responsible for their hospital bills. Most respondents 106(53.0%) who patronized the hospital/health center were satisfied with treatment received. Increasing age and gender were significantly associated with disease morbidity pattern among the elderly (P < .05). Conclusion: Improving geriatrics care through effective implementation of intervention programmes is pivotal to mitigating the rate of disease morbidity among the aged population.

Elderly morbidity pattern health seeking behaviour calabar municipality

References (7)

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