Health Status of the Elderly and Its Influence on Their Activities of Daily Living in Shangrao, Jiangxi Province

To investigate the activities of daily living (ADL) and influencing factors, this survey study was conducted in Shangrao of Jiangxi. A total of 1087 elderly subjects in a long-term care (LTC) program participated in this study and their physical function, cognitive ability, self-rated health, and chronic disease were recorded during March 2017 and April 2018. The ADL scale was used to evaluate the health status of the elderly. F-test and multiple linear regression showed that the average ADL of the participants was 15.12 ± 17.59. The incidence of visual and verbal impairment was 68.6% and 14.1%, respectively. Over 74% of the elderly had severe cognitive impairment; and the prevalence of chronic disease was 84.5%. Multivariate analysis revealed that age, education, BMI (Body Mass Index), low income, verbal and cognitive ability, visual status, health self-evaluation, and some chronic diseases were related to self-care ability (p < 0.05). In summary, this study revealed that the ADL score is lower in this region and identified several influencing factors. These new findings will be useful for the local government to enhance the current LTC program for the elderly population.