Health Profile of Hospitalized Older Persons in a Tertiary Hospital in Nanning, Guangxi, China

Abstract

This cross-sectional descriptive survey study aimed to describe the health profile of hospitalized older persons in a tertiary hospital, Nanning, Guanxi, China. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 189 older people in the study. Data were collected by using questionnaire and standard assessment tools. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. 
Results: (1) Demographic characteristics: Of the 189 older persons, 56.6% were males, 41.3% aged 70-79 years; 71.4%were married; 82.5% had the average length of stay of 14.9 days; and 66.1% had health insurance. (2) Physical health and illness: Of 50.3% of older persons perceived their health as fair; 60.3% perceived their health as better than others of the same age. Older persons had an average of 4.6 diagnoses and took 6.2 prescribed medicines per day. Of 65.4% older persons had hypertension. One or two acute symptoms within the past two weeks were reported in 79.9% of older persons. The most common acute symptom was vertigo/syncope (41.3%). Within the past six months, 54.6% had 3 to 5 chronic conditions; and 48.6% had 1 or 2 common geriatric problems. The most common geriatric problem reported was sleep disturbance (61.9%). (3) Physical function: Based on Barthel ADL Index, 59.3% were more or less dependent on activities of daily living; (4) Psychological function: The scores of GDS-SF indicated that 37.0% were depressed. Among them, 32.8% had mild depression; 4.2% had moderate to severe depression. The MMSE scores indicated that 27.6% of older persons had dementia. (5) Social function: Most of older persons lived with their spouses (41.8%) who had a mean age of 71.7 years; 13.8% lived alone; and 49.7% had no caregiver during hospitalization. The main source of financial support of older persons was retirement pension (75.7%). This study provides base line information which is beneficial for planning holistic health care and aged care services to meet the demands of hospitalized older persons.