Analysis in status quo and influencing factors of ability of the elderly at home

  Objective  To investigate ability status of the elderly at home and analyze its influencing factors.

  Methods  By using Ability Assessment Scale for the elderly and Cluster Random Sampling method, a housekeeping survey was conducted among the elderly aged ≥80 years in Nantong of Jiangsu Province.

  Results  A total of 1 882 valid questionnaires were collected, including 1 866 (99.15%) elderly people with varying degrees of disability, 670 (35.60%) with moderate disability and 553 (29.38%) with severe disability. Logistic regression analysis showed that age, body mass index (BMI), chronic disease, mental disease, dementia degree, hearing impairment, accidents in recent 30 days, self-rated health status and exercise were the influencing factors of the ability level of the elderly after correcting confounding factors (P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  The ability of the elderly at home is not optimistic, because they have higher rate of moderate and severe disability. Therefore, corresponding intervention measures should be provided according to the health status of the elderly to improve their quality of life.