Prevalence of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors Contributing to Causing of Functional Decline in Elderly Individuals in the Rural Population of Karad, India

BACKGROUND Functional decline refers to increase in dependence towards activities of daily living and is common with increasing age, chronic diseases, and previous hospitalization. We wanted to determine the rate of intrinsic and extrinsic factors of functional decline in different age groups among elderly population and in relation to gender. METHODS The study population was composed of 64 individuals which were above the age group of 60 years, further subdivided into 3 groups: 60 - 70, 70 - 80 and 80 years and above. The validated questionnaire was provided through which the intrinsic and extrinsic factors were determined. RESULTS In all the studied subjects, extrinsic factors had a mean value of 31.24 % while intrinsic factors had a mean value of 28.12 % which indicates that extrinsic factors are more prevalent than intrinsic factors in all the age groups. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors were more prevalent in the female population than the male population with the prevalence rate of intrinsic factors as 34.37 % in males and 50 % in females and for the extrinsic factors prevalence rate of 39.06 % in males and 54.68 % in females. In age group of 60 – 70 yrs. we found that the prevalence of intrinsic factors was (23.43 %) and extrinsic was (26.56 %), for 70 - 80 intrinsic it was (29.68 %) extrinsic was (32.81 %) and for 80 and above prevalence intrinsic was (31.25 %) and extrinsic was (34.37 %). CONCLUSIONS The study showed that the extrinsic factors contributed more to the functional decline as compared to the intrinsic factors. These findings are important as the functional decline and increasing care needs are potentially modifiable. KEY WORDS Functional Decline, Intrinsic Factors, Extrinsic Factors, Disability