Author(s)

Lilia Cárdenas-Ibarra^1*, Jesús Z. Villarreal-Pérez¹, Raúl Fernando Gutiérrez Herrera², Perla Alejandra Mellado-Urbina³, Ana Laura Turner-Llaguno³, Adolfo Montemayor-Alatorre³, José Carlos Lira-Castillo³, Fernando J. Lavalle González¹

¹Endocrinology Service, Dr. José E. González University Hospital, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico.
²Family Practice Department, Dr. Jose E. Gonzalez University Hospital, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico.
³Medical School, UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico.

Background: Nonagenarians are uncommon in our population. The study aim was to profile physical mobility, declared health problems, hypertension and diabetes frequency, awareness, treated and good control in urban low-income elders. Method: The study had cross-sectional design in population sample. Subjects were urban men and women older than 59 years at the medium low income stratum at a developing country. Survey was carried out from October 2008 to October 2009. All elder dwellers in randomly selected houses were surveyed; clinical exam after consent. Good Control: Systolic/Diastolic <135/<85 mmHg, and HbA1c < 7% for diabetes. Results: There were 162 elders, 53 (32.7%) were male, 99 (61.1%) were younger than 70 years. Forty nine (30.2%) had impaired mobility; among them 20 (55.6%) were bed or home restricted, and 29 (44.4%) needed help to go out. Unstable health condition was found in 36 (22.2%), with significantly more men 19 (52.8%) vs 34 (27.0%), X2 = 8.5, df1, P < 0.005; and impaired mobility 32 (88.9%) vs 17 (13.5%), P < 0.001; but similar age 69.2 ± 7.7 vs 68.3 ± 7.3, t = 0.62, df 160, P > 0.05. The frequency, proportions for: known diagnosis, on treatment, and good control were 75 (69.4%), 55 (73.3%), 45 (60.0%) and 12 of 45 (26.7%) for hypertension; 53 (49.1%), 47 (88.7%), 42 (79.2%) and 9 of 42 (21.4%) for diabetes. The most frequent unstable conditions were cardiovascular. Conclusions: Data suggest unstable health no association with the oldest old. The small proportion in good control of Diabetes and/or hypertension could explain the large frequency of elders with unstable health and prevention of reaching nonagenarian age.

Community Health, Elderly, Awareness, Treatment and Control of Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus Type 2

Cárdenas-Ibarra, L. , Villarreal-Pérez, J. , Herrera, R. , Mellado-Urbina, P. , Turner-Llaguno, A. , Montemayor-Alatorre, A. , Lira-Castillo, J. and González, F. (2018) Health Status of Urban Medium-Low-Income Elderly at the Community. Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, 8, 105-116. doi: 10.4236/ojemd.2018.83011.