General medical status in a group of institutionalised geriatric patients in Colombo

Abstract

A study of 64 old people in a home for elders in Maradana was undertaken. These old people have been instutionalised for a variable period ranging from 3 months to 25 years. These patients were all on 5 occasions. There were 33 men and 31 women with a mean age of 73.81±7.73 years. The oldest patient in the study was 94 yrs old. A detailed analysis of the medical and surgical conditions these people were suffering from was undertaken and the common symptoms in this age group were studied. The conditions diagnosed previously and at this examination appear in table 1, and the common symptoms in order of frequency in table II. There was one death during the study period. Certain haematological and bio chemical parameters studied in this group appear in another paper.