The age–friendly cities characteristics from the viewpoint of elderly

BACKGROUND: Elderly population is rising due to advancement of health care, medical services, and increasing life expectancy. World Health Organization (WHO) has initiated a global project to define “age-friendly city for improving the elderly's quality of life”. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to determine the age-friendly cities characteristics from the elderly's point of view in Gorgan, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 on elderly people who referred to the health centers of Gorgan, Iran. 160 eligible elderly people were recruited through multi-stage random sampling. The viewpoint of participants about the characteristics of Gorgan in the four age-friendly city indicators; urban and outdoor buildings, transport and transportation systems, information and communication services, and social support and health services was compared with the standard of WHO. Data were collected using the age-friendly city questionnaire and analyzed in SPSS-18 using Chi-square and one-sample t-tests. RESULTS: From the elderly viewpoint, the mean score of 4 indicators; urban buildings and outdoor (58.50 ± 31.2), Transport and transportation system (43.3 ± 82.00), access to Information communication services (46.75 ± 15.1) and the level of access to social support and health services (81.43 ± 21.10). Considering age-friendly city indicators, the characteristics of Gorgan City were significantly lower than the WHO recommended standard (P < 0.001). The “Information and Communication” and “buildings and outdoor space” indicators had the highest and lowest differences from the standard, respectively. CONCLUSION: According to the present results it is recommended that managers and policymakers of urban planning and healthcare providers in their programs consider the elderly viewpoint to improve the urban characteristics as an age-friendly city.