A preliminary study on the activities of daily living of the Dai elderly in rural Ruili,Yunnan province

Objective To investigate disability of the Dai elderly in traditional rural communities in Ruili,Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan province,in order to well evaluate the needs of the increasing elderly for long-term care services in remote and border area in China,and provide reference for the long term strategic planning for elderly among EMGs in China. Methods The multi-stage random cluster sampling method was used to sample 187 Dai elderly from 12 traditional villages in Ruili.Barthel index was used to evaluate the activities of daily living(ADL)of of the Dai elderly aged over 60 years. Results Based on the ADL measures on 187 elderly in Dai villages,the disability rates of Dai elderly were estimated statistically in terms of point estimation and 95% confidence interval(CI) estimation.The severe disability rate and its 95%CI were 6.95%(6.02%,7.88%),and moderate disability rate and its 95%CI were 4.28%(3.69%,4.87%),while mild disability rate 77.01%(74.47%,79.54%).Meanwhile,the rate of non-disability and its 95% CI were 11.76%(10.28%,13.25%).The disability rate,defined as severe and moderate disability,of Dai elderly and its 95%CI were 11.23%(9.80%,12.66%).Age was found closely associated with disability:the older,the lower the ADL,meaning more serious disability(P<0.001).High-significantly higher disability was found for the young elderly women than men(P<0.01),but no significant difference was identified between women and men among those groups aged 65 years old and above(P>0.05). Conclusion s This paper reports,as the first time in China,the disability rates of elderly in Dai villages.The disability rates gradually have been increasing by age for the Dai elderly in traditional rural communities in Ruili.Among the rural elderly Dai villagers younger than 65 years old,women show a higher disability rate.No significant difference has been identified between men and women among the age groups older than 65 years old.The disability rates of the Dai elderly in traditional rural communities are relatively lower than the national average ones stated by other studies in China.