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Abstract Objective To assess the status of disability and dementia among elders in China with their instrumental activities and cognitive ability and studied the current situation of the long-term care services that they received, in order to provide basis for developing a long-term care system in our country.Methods Using the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) as source data, KATZ Scale and MMSE Scale were adopted to assess the status of the disabled and demented elder populace. Descriptive analysis was performed by SPSS19.0 and the long-term care needs of the disabled and demented elders were analyzed. Results The disability rates of 65~79 years old, 80~89 years old, 90~99 years old, and above 100 years old elders were 5.5%, 15.6%, 34.1%, and 51.7% respectively, the dementia rates were 4.8%, 17.1%, 36.3%, and 56.6% respectively. After adding weights to the data using 2010 Chinese population census data, the results was calculated. In urban area, the disability rates of male and female elders was 10.5% and 11.2%; in sub-urban area, male 7.5% and female 8.1%; in rural area, male 5.2% and female 8.0%. In urban area, the dementia rates of male and female elders was 7.4% and 7.1%; in sub-urban area, male 4.2% and female 7.9%; in rural area, male 6.1% and female 10.8%. The family care could no longer be sufficient to meet the elders' needs with the continuous deepening of disability or dementia of the elder in some families. However, being in the low-income group, elders could not afford the high costs of care taking from social services.Conclusion It is not rare to see disability or dementia among elders, especially senior elders. With the continuous weakening of the family care, it is very crucial to build a better social long-term care system for the disabled and demented elders at state and government levels.
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Published: 30 August 2016
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2016, Vol. 34 
