Economic engagement and disease prevalence among elderly people in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Objective: To explore the relationship between the economic engagement and the prevalence of diseases among elder people in Rawalpindi city, Pakistan. Methodology: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in two union councils (UC# 46 of Rawal Town and UC# 36 of Potohar Town) of Rawalpindi city. A sample of 384 respondents aged 60-years and above was interviewed. Descriptive analysis and chi-square tests were run to see the correlation between economic engagement and the prevalence of diseases. Results: There was significant correlation between the economic activism and prevalence of diseases among elderly people. About 42.4% elderly persons were economically active and they had fewer diseases while those who were not working had more diseases. A p value of 0.003 showed a significant association among the selected study variables. We found a positively significant relationship between the age, gender, economic engagement and prevalence of disease among elderly people. Conclusion: By engaging the elderly population in healthy activities we can reduce their chances to fall ill. The majority of elderly who were engaged in any work had lesser prevalence of diseases. These findings can be helpful in devising well-directed policies to engaging elderly people to minimize their risk of diseases.