Limited Formal Education and its Impact of Disease Profile of Older Persons of Rawalpindi

Abstract

Increased life expectancy and low mortality rates are the major reason for the increasing number of the older population. Developed countries are not only facing this problem, but the number of developing countries are also increasing. Pakistan is also among those countries having a greater portion of the older population. Objective: The present study was focused on exploring the relationship between the educational achievement of older persons and their disease profile. Methods: A structured tool was developed to interview 384 older persons. Data were coded and analyzed in SPSS. Male and female participation was with ratio 70:30 while 53.9% sample was age 60-65 years. Results: Most of the respondents were illiterate, followed by primary, secondary, and matriculation degree holder elders. Hypertension, Heart problem, Diabetes, Arthritis, and Asthma issue are observed among older persons. Diabetes is the only disease reported by OPs with a qualification from illiterate to a Master degree with varied percentiles. Regression model [ y=5.0749+.0646x] with R Square = .0013. Conclusion: We conclude that a relationship exists among study variables but non-significantly while the value of R^2tells us how assertive you can be that each distinct variable has some correlation with the dependent variable, which is the important indicator.