http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/handle/iruor/7306 Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:05:34 GMT 2026-04-27T07:05:34Z http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/handle/iruor/7691 The Impact of Gender and Age on Health and Quality of Life of Older People in Galle District, Sri Lanka De Silva, K.; Liyanage, C.; Wijesinghe, C.; Perera, B. Background: Sri Lanka’s population is rapidly aging. Quality of Life (QOL) of older people in many countries is in jeopardy at present and Sri Lanka is no exception. QOL among the older people is often associated with physical deterioration along with their health conditions. Objectives: This paper describes QOL and health status of older people in Galle and the impact of gender and age on QOL of them. Methods: A cross sectional study was done using a random sample of older people aged 60 years and above living in Galle district. A pre-tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale, World Health Organization Quality Of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) scale, Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scale and Center for Epidemiologic Studies depression scale (CES-D Scale) were used to collect data. These scales were validated and used in community surveys in Sri Lanka. Health status was measured by assessing health conditions using available health records. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used in the analysis. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ruhuna, Galle, Sri Lanka. Results: A total of 396 older people participated in the study. Mean age of the participants was 69 (±7.2) years, and the majority were females (n = 268, 67.7%). Hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, joint related diseases and vision problems were common in this target population. Older women were more likely than older men to suffer from joint related disease and older men were more likely than older women to suffer from cardiovascular diseases and hearing deficiencies. There was no gender difference of the mean ADL values, but those of aged 70 or more years reported slightly lower mean ADL value than those of 60-69 years (98.46 vs 99.60, p < 0.01). No gender or age differences of the mean CES-D values and mean MMSE scores were found. The mean value of QOL of younger older people were slightly higher than that of others (308.4 vs 296.6, p < 0.01), but no gender difference was found. Conclusion: Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arthritis and vision problems are prevalent in older people in Galle. Health authorities should pay attention to reduce incidence rates of these diseases and particular attention should be paid to provide healthcare facilities to older women with joint diseases. Interventions that support active lifestyle in older people in advanced ages would probably facilitate them to enhance their QOL. Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/handle/iruor/7691 2021-08-26T00:00:00Z http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/handle/iruor/7690 Risk Factors and Comorbidities Associated with Fragility Hip Fracture among Fragility Hip Fracture Patients Admitted to Teaching Hospital Karapitiya Abeygunasekara, T.; Lekamwasam, S.; Lenora, J.; Alwis, G. Background: Hip fracture, the most sinister clinical outcome of osteoporosis, is associated with disability, hospitalization, multi-morbidity and death. Many Asian countries lack an effective and coordinated system to detect high fracture risk patients early. Objective: To identify risk factors and comorbidities associated with hip fracture (HF) among patients admitted to Teaching Hospital Karapitiya (THK). Methods: Patients with incident fragility HF (n=180) admitted to THK and age and sex matched 348 subjects free of HF selected from the neighborhood of HF patients were included in this case-control study. Only new hip fractures resulted from falls of standing height or less were included. Hip fractures due to heavy injuries were excluded. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Results: The two groups were similar with regards to smoking, alcohol consumption and the usage of glucocorticoids. The prevalence of any type of previous fragility fracture (7.8% vs 3.4%) and family history of fragility fracture (8.9% vs 3.4%) were higher in the HF patients (p<0.05 and p<0.01). The 66.7% of HF patients had one or more comorbidities (83.9%, p<0.01). The HF patients had a greater prevalence of comorbidities such as peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, peptic ulcer disease, liver diseases, neoplasm, hypertension, bronchial asthma, vision impairment and hearing impairment at the time of hospitalization (p<0.01). Conclusions: This study revealed several risk factors of HF in the local population. Such information can be used in the development of a risk score to detect those with high fracture risk in the local population. Thu, 26 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/handle/iruor/7690 2021-08-26T00:00:00Z