HEALTH STATUS OF ELDERLY PEOPLE IN ALBORZ: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Alborz Province is one of the provinces that accepted immigrants. Immigration has a profound effect on physical and mental health in elderly. This study was performed to assess the health status of Alborz province older population.
In this cross-sectional study, 235 subjects were enrolled (113 men and 122 women) aged ≥ 60 years using multi-level proportionated cluster random sampling that selected from 19 cities of this province. Data was collected by a demographic questionnaire, measuring anthropometric characteristics, and blood pressure and using "Mini Nutritional Assessment", ”Geriatric Depression Scale-15 ", “Katz’s Activity of daily living”, and "Lawton’s Instrumental activities of daily living”. Data was analyzed with spss21.
The mean age of the participants was 68 (6. 00) years. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among the participants was as٪ 51. 5 and 34٪, respectively. At risk or malnutrition was observed in 27٪ of the participants and ٪ 54. 5 had suffered dental problems and ٪ 49. 8 also had problem in walking.
Overall, the health status of elderly people in the Alborz, perhaps slightly better than the national average, but the high prevalence of metabolic disorders also the high prevalence of depression and anxiety require serious intervention by policy makers to promote the health in elderly.