Abstract
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Elderly people develop different kinds of health problems which are known as geriatric syndromes
that have more than one cause and involve many activities of the body. The common geriatric
syndromes include urinary incontinence, falls, delirium, depression, dementia, sleep problems,
osteoporosis, weight loss and constipation.
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study to estimate the prevalence of common geriatric syndromes in relation to
gender and to interview the working state.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
This study included 300 elderly patients with age range of 60 years -84years of both genders in
a cross-sectional study from March - June 2019 who visited geriatric clinic in Baghdad Teaching
Hospital / Medical City. Analytic study by SPSS was performed to assess the frequency of geriatric
syndromes and working state. The p value < 0.05 was significant.
RESULTS:
This study showed 65% were males. The most common geriatric syndromes included: Sleep
disturbance 50%, Urinary incontinence 48%, Osteoporosis 39% and fall 28%. Regarding working
state 56% was retired, 34.6% were unemployed and only 9.4% were working. Osteoporosis (4.3%)
and psychological problems (20.6%) were less in working older adults.
CONCLUSION:
The frequent geriatric syndromes are urinary incontinence, sleep disturbance, osteoporosis and falls.
More than half of patients were retired and one- third were unemployed. Osteoporosis and
psychological problems were decreased in working elderly patients.
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