Living on upper floors causing bone ailments: Study

A large number of senior citizens residing on the 2nd floor and above in Delhi are living an unhealthy life marked by various bone ailments leading to their restricted mobility, says an epidemiological study conducted by the Arthritis Foundation of India.

The study was conducted on a sample size of 1,300 participants (900 in Delhi and 400 in NCR) drawn from all parts of Delhi, Ghaziabad and few parts of Faridabad and Noida as well. When the target sample area was selected, desired weight-age was given to all locations such as each East, West, North, South and Central Delhi.

The Epidemiological Study has been conducted among senior citizens residing on the 2nd Floor and above. By a rough estimate, 30-40percent of the senior citizens live on 2nd floor and due to space crunch, most of them are forced to construct houses up to four storeys.

The study revealed that the proportion of elderly, physically fit to move, was invariably higher in urban areas as compared to their rural counterparts and higher among men than women in various age to age-groups. About 64 per thousand elderly persons in rural areas and 55 per thousand elderly persons in urban areas suffer from one or more disabilities.

The most common disability among aged persons was loco motor disability as 3 percent of them suffer from it, next only to hearing disability (for about 1.5 percent) and blindness (1.7 percent in rural areas, and 1 percent in urban areas).

“As part of its social obligation towards the nation and its people, both the Central and State governments should re-plan their health related programs to include bone & joint diseases in it. Both the central and state governments are not giving any serious attention to solve these problems and because of this, very few hospitals have such medical facilities to cure and rectify problems related to Osteoporosis and Arthritis,” said Dr.PK Dave, Former Director, AIIMS & Patron, Arthritis Foundation of India.

As per the study, only 8 percent of the elderly population reported enjoying a good health without suffering any major problems and 85 percent of the respondents reported suffering different kinds of problems related to bones and joints. Many patients with Bone and joints problems also suffer from co-morbidities like Diabetes and heart diseases. 90 percent of the respondents preferred taking oral medicines and pain relievers where, pain relieving Gel/Cream is highly used by most of the persons suffering from any type of Bone & Joint related problems.

“AFI reiterates the demand for a National Program on Bone and Joint diseases as the economic burden of Osteoporosis /Fragility fractures and Arthritis is estimated to be about 8-10,000 crores per year which makes it extremely difficult for a developing country like India. The government must be more involved in the treatment of bone diseases, insist on providing free medicines, free surgeries and joint replacements, provide separate faculties for Arthritis and Osteoporosis treatment and endow elderly people with old age homes for all facilities,” said  Dr. Sushil Sharma, Senior Ortho Surgeon and Chairman, Arthritis Foundation of India.

The study further revealed that one in three senior citizens are suffering from arthritis, whereas 85 percent of the old age population is suffering from other Bone and Joint related problems. Also in the total percentage of respondents who have any type of Bone & Joint related problems, females contributed 55percent while Males contributed only 45percent. Another depressing revelation was that 10percent of the respondents were not in a position to walk to the Ground Floor/Surface at all.

Just 56 percent persons between the age group of 60-65 are able to come down thrice and only 37percent among 66+ age group category could do so. Many respondents said despite extreme difficulty they are compelled to move because either they are single or in nuclear family. If we select the senior citizens living on 3rd Floor and above, 17 percent never make it to the ground level. Further, almost 60 percent respondents were not able to manage personal cleanliness while 84 percent are not fit enough to travel alone.

“Most of the medical health centers across India lack facilities to combat this challenge followed by a very low awareness about this disease in the society. None of the policies and programs provide any facilities for addressing any major bone related problems among the senior citizens,” said Prof. Shishir Rastogi, AIIMS and Advisor, Arthritis Foundation of India.

Among the respondents, 81percent have consulted specialized Orthopaedic doctors and physician specialists, which indicates a high level of awareness about specialized doctors among the natives of Delhi, compared to the other states. However, there is a lot of over lapping about the preference for doctors and there is virtually no awareness about the availability of Endocrinologist and Rheumatologist for their problems.

There are about 10 million senior citizens in the country at present. According to a recent Planning Commission Report on India’s elderly population, one in every four is depressed, one in three suffer from Arthritis, while one in five cannot hear. Further, one in three suffers from hypertension in rural areas, whereas the ratio is one in two in urban areas.

Almost half the population suffers from poor vision. According to the report, around one in ten have reportedly experienced a fall, resulting in a fracture whereas the independent study carried out by Arthritis Foundation of India and International Osteoporosis Foundation has shown more Fractures among the Osteoporotic in India with an approximate estimation of one in 5-6 persons.