The Relationship Between Gender and Disability in the Elderly People in Tehran Municipality Pension Organization

Objectives Because of increasing geriatric population in Iran, the present study aims to plan, prevent, and mitigate the complications among the retired elderly of the Tehran Municipality Pension Organization and then investigate its relation to gender.
Methods & Materials The descriptive and analytic approach was adopted on 300 elderly subjects who were 60 years and older (Mean [SD]: 68.14[7.11] years). The subjects were selected using random sampling method. All the elderly subjects were retired members of the Tehran Municipality Administration. The data were collected by direct reference to the subjects’ home and conducting interviews. The data collection tool included questionnaires with two sections. The first section consisted of the demographic, socioeconomic, and health profiles, and the second section consisted of WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS 18.
Results Among the elderly subjects in this study, 175 (54%) had no disability, 125 (46%) were disabled, and 19.13% had mild disability. The average disability rate was 5.6% in females and 4.38% in males; these rates were high compared to the present rate in the society. However, the lowest rate of disability (0.72% in males and 1.07% in females) was related to self-caring and personal health.
Conclusion In conclusion, the retired elderly of Tehran Municipality Administration showed a lower level of disability compared to those of other developed countries. However, there is an increasing need for setting up geriatric cares units as the population pattern of elderly people is rising in Iran. In addition, the rate of disability was found to be higher in females (58.14%) compared to males (53.31%), which shows a significant relation of disability status with gender and age (P