Abstract
Background: The increasing number of elderly population has made it more important to focus on elderly function and independent living. Chronic diseases represent a major threat to elderly independence and the Care Dependency Scale is considered a comprehensive tool for assessment of functional status in elderly
Aim: To study the effect of chronic diseases on functional independence in elderly using the Care Dependency Scale Methods: One-hundred twenty seven community-dwelling elderly Egyptians were enrolled in the study. Cases were selected by convenient sampling regarding age, sex, governorate, religion, educational level, socioeconomic status, marital status and working status. This was based on data supplied by the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) report of 2013 supplied to the National Center for Social and Criminological Research (NCSCR)
Results: In the current study sample, visual impairment, hypertension and DM were the most prevalent chronic diseases with a prevalence of 53.5, 44.1, 31.5 respectively. While cerebrovascular accidents were the least prevalent recording 4.7% of the study sample. Insomnia, chronic kidney diseases (CKD), heart failure and previous hospitalization were significantly related to lower CDS scores in the current study. The mean CDS in our study sample was 74.9
Conclusions: Insomnia, CKD, heart failure and previous hospitalization are related to higher rates of care dependency in elderly Egyptians.