Assessment of Health-related Needs in Older Adults: A Systematic Review

Over the past years, more attention has been paid to the health-related needs of the elderly population as a vulnerable subgroup. This study aimed to design and implement a health-related need assessment of the elderly under a systematic review.

Information and Methods:

In this study, the international databases, including Web of Sciences, Medline, Scopus, and ProQuest, were searched up to August 2021. The following keywords were used to design the search strategy: (aged OR aging OR "older adults" OR "older people" OR "older person" OR elderly) AND (need OR "needs assessment" OR "health-related needs" OR" health need assessment").

The total sample size was 10780 subjects. The mean age was 73.7±8.2 years. Six main areas of health-related needs were identified during this study as follows: 1) physical needs, 2) psychological needs, 3) social needs, 4) environmental needs, 5) health literacy needs, and 6) intelligent assistive technology.

It seems that achieving the goal of successful aging is possible in the framework of health needs assessment and identifying the needs of older adults in all its dimensions, which include physical health, social well-being, psychological well-being, financial security, and an older adults-friendly environment.