บทคัดย่อ
Health interview survey of the population aged 50 and over Thailand, 1995This cross-sectional survey was conducted mainly by direct interviewing the selected sample. Two provinces from each of the 12 zones of the MOPH and Bangkok Metropolis were selects for this study. The total number of population samples was 7,713 with 43.2 percent male and 56.8 female. 26.1 percent lived in urban area, the number of females was higher both in urban and rural areas. Illiteracy rate was 86.1, however, more than half of the sample could read and write. The illiteracy rate in the rural area was twice that in the urban area. Females had higher rate of window than male, especially among the elderly aged 60 and over. 82.8 percent of people aged 50-59 and 42.0 of the elderly aged 60 and over still worked during the year before the interview. When asking the samples to assess their health status, 53.6 percent of the Bangkokians perceived that they were healthy and very healthy, while 34.1 percent of people in the South and the Northeast perceived that they were unhealthy and weak. During the 6-month period before the survey, selected chronic illnesses which were diagnosed by the medical doctor were back pain (16 percent), arthritis (12.1 percent), gastritis or peptic ulcer (13.0 percent), hypertension (13.2 percent), heart diseases (5.6 percent), diabetes mellitus (3.5 percent), cataract (3.8 percent) and problems of urination or defecation was less than 10 percent. The rate of injury from fall was 16.1 percent, being higher in the rural than in the urban area, and females higher than males, Most of the injures occurred during day time outside the house, Other causes of injury were fall from steps (2.9 percent), car accident (2.5 percent), taking wrong medicine (1.0 percent), inflicted from other people (0.4 percent) and cutting (14.8 percent). The rate of mild illnesses during the past month was 43.6 percent, highest in the Northeast (47.2 percent) and lowest in Bangkok (38.7 percent)> Females had a higher rate of illness than males, and rural higher than urban. Common causes of illnesses were URI, headache, muscle pain, abdominal pain, joint and back pain, and fainting. In general, the mode of health care seeking of most people were self medication (49.4 percent), health centers (22.0 percent), private clinics (11.3 percent), and public hospitals (9.5 percent). People in Bangkok had the highest rate of self medication while samples in rural area seek help from health centers. In the previous year, the rate of hospitalization was 29.1 percent, highest in the South (32.5 percent) and lowest in the North (25.6 percent). Length of hospital stay ranged from 1 week to 6 months, more than 60 percent stayed in the hospital for 1 week or less. The range of hospital cost was 1,000 to 100,000 Baht. Maximum hospital cost was from heart diseases, up to 200,000 Baht, while the mean hospital cost was for caring of motorcycle accident cases (27,915 Baht). The rate of smoking was 30.7 percent, 15.7 percent was ex-smokers. Males had a smoking rate 5-6 times higher than females, rural people smoke more than urban dweller. The smoking rate was the highest in the North (35.2 percent) and lowest in Bangkok (20.6 percent). The rate of chewing betel nuts was 29.2 percent, more common in females and higher in the rural area. 29.0 percent of the sample consumed alcohol, higher in the rural than in the urban and males consumed 3-4 times higher than females, Bangkok residents (41.3 percent) had higher frequency of alcohol consumption than those in other regions, followed by the South (34.3 percent) and lowest in the North (17.6 percent).Food consumption pattern of sample aged 50 and over were quite good. As they consumed more vegetable and fruit than meat. Only 18.6 percent of them had milk everyday, urban people consumed more than those in the rural area. 47.3 percent took medicine everyday, females had higher rate than males. 44.1 percent of the sample aged 50-59 and 40.3 percent of those aged 60 and over performed regular exercise, males higher than females. Among the people aged under 60, 66.4 percent prepared to become the elderly by religious practices, 48.0 percent performed exercise, 41.5 percent arranged their living, 38.8 percent kept saving, 36.0 percent prepared activitied for free time after retirement, 31.8 had physical check-up, and only 13.7 prepared for savings. More than 80 percent of the younger group reported than they needed to work ever after retirement.
