Health Status, Family Support and Depression among Residents of Elderly Homes and Those Living with Families in Benha City and Associated Factors

Objectives : to (1) investigate the perceived health status , different health problems ,malnutrition and functional status of aged in elderly homes compared to those living with their families attending geriatric clubs (2) find out the prevalence of depression among two groups , association with family support ,elderly abuse and dependency state. Methodology: A case-control study was conducted. Cases comprised 70 elderly recruited from two homes for elderly in Benha city. Control group comprised 140 elderly participants matched for age ,gender and socioeconomic status recruited from two geriatric clubs Data being collected using a predesigned structured questionnaire including sociodemographic data, comprehensive physical and functional assessment of health status of elderly participants using different validated tools. Results: Ischemic heart diseases (50%) ,memory disorders and history of falls were highest among geriatric home residents (37.1% and 52.9% respectively ). No significant difference were found regarding different health problems ,number of morbidities or medications . Higher percent of geriatric home residents nutritionally at risk (47.1%) , malnourished (15.7%) and underweight. Family support was significantly higher for elderly living with family . Abuse was reported by 7.1% among elderly living with family and higher among geriatric home group (65.7%) mostly of financial and emotional type beside depression in (74.3%) of them . Residence in geriatric homes is associated with elderly abuse , negative family support, depression , big family size, memory disorder and nutritional risk . Conclusion and Recommendations : Elderly people of both groups are unhealthy . Aged people in geriatric homes have a multisystem morbidity beside memory disorders ,falls ,depression , malnutrition ,elderly abuse and loss of family support. There is a great need to conduct more research to improve our understanding of elderly populations, their health and psychosocial problems. Social support and medical care of elderly residents in geriatric homes should receive more attention.