Cross-Sectinal Survey of the health status of the elderly in the urban and rural areas in Beijing

To evaluate the health status of the elderly in the urban and rural areas of Beijing 657 elderly people over 60 years old were surveyed.The results showed that the activities of daily living,and general satisfaction with life of the elderly in rural areas were better than in urban areas(P0 01)。The prevalence rates of fatigue、constipation  abdominal distension etc in urban area were higher than in rural area (P0 05 respectively).The 5 most prevalent chronic diseases among the elderly were hypertension,coronary heart disease,cataracts,chronic bronchitin and stroke.The prevalence rates of hypertension(P0 01),coronary heart disease(P0 05),stroke(P0 01),anemia(P0 05),diabetes mellitus(P0 05) in urban elderly were higher than in rural.In order to improve the health status of the elderly,not only prevention and treatment of chronic disease are important,but also improving of living conditions,living Behaviors and social support,are necessary.