Background: Graying of the population is a major cause of concern especially for developing countries like India. Elderly population is susceptible to various diseases. Health-care utilization is an important element of health care that reflects health status of elderly.
Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the pattern of health-care service utilization among elderly population and to find out the reasons for non-utilization of health-care services.
Materials and Methods: This study was a community-based cross-sectional study. It was carried out in the registered families of the Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC) and Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC), Department of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh. A total of 450 elderly aged 60 years and above were included in the study. Data were collected using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. The sample size was drawn using systematic random sampling with probability proportionate to size technique. Frequency and proportions were calculated using SPSS 20.
Results: UHTC/RHTC was most commonly utilized for seeking health care, allopathy was the most preferred modality of treatment, effective treatment was the most common reason for choosing particular modality of treatment and no person to accompany was the most common reason for non-utilization of health care.
Conclusion: Approximately four-fifth of the elderly population were utilizing the health services for their illnesses. However, a substantial proportion of elderly was not utilizing any health services that require necessary actions to enable them to lead a healthy and productive life.
Key words: Health-care Utilization; Elderly; Non-utilization
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