Gender Differentials in Chronic Morbidities and Related Issues among Urban Elderly.

The present study was conducted to examine the prevalence of elderly suffering from selected morbidities, duration of years they suffered and treatment taken or not for one or the other morbidity under consideration from any health facility across their gender background. For this purpose, data from 778 elderly persons (364 men and 414 women) who were residing in Coimbatore city, Tamil Nadu, was collected and analysed with the help of cross-tabulations/means and Chi-square/ANOVA tests. The findings revealed that the percentages of elderly suffering from Arthritis and Cataract and related closely followed by Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Back pain and Asthma are higher among women than among men. On the other hand, while the duration of years suffering from Cataract and related, Arthritis, Blood Pressure Asthma and Ulcer problem is significantly higher among men than their women counterparts, the reverse pattern is noticed in the case of Diabetes. By and large, men tend to availed/availing medical treatment for majority of the chronic morbidities under consideration to a large extent than their women counterparts. Based on the findings suitable policy implications were proposed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]