Physical Disabilities among the Rural Elderly: Identifying Surrogate Markers of Unmet Disability Care Needs

In the era of population ageing, accurate assessments of need for disability assistance are essential for effective planning of support services for the elderly: to assess the physical disabilities in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) among the elderly; to identify the unmet needs in physical disabilities among them and to identify the predictors of unmet needs in physical disabilities of elderly so that they can act as surrogate markers to identify those in need of the services. A cross sectional study and 305 elderly aged 60 years and above were selected from seven villages that were planned to be covered by PSG Geriatric Day Care Centre. Of the 305 elderly studied, 53.1% were disabled and 32.8% elders have unmet needs for their disability. The predictors of unmet needs are living alone elderly, aged >70 years, single (other than married), financially fully dependent elderly, those elderly had more number (level) of disability and elderly having more morbidity.