Investigation of activities of daily living and its influencing factors of the left-behind elderly in rural minority areas of Guizhou

Objective To describe the activities of daily living of the left-behind elderly in rural minority areas of Guizhou and its influencing factors. Methods Multilevel sampling investigation was used to select 1 260 cases left-behind elderly in four counties of Qiannan rural minority areas. Their general condition,physical condition and the activities of daily living were investigated. Results 10.87% of the left-behind elderly in rural minority areas of Guizhou had obvious dis-function of daily living ability.Multivariate analysis showed that the risk factors were old age (OR=2.851, 95% CI=2.233-3.642),ethnic(OR=1.486, 95% CI=1.029-2.174),chronic disease(OR=1.246, 95% CI=1.047-1.482) and poor relationship with his family (OR=1.835, 95% CI=1.397-2.409).The protective factors for the activities of daily living of the left-behind elderly included high home income level(OR=0.657, 95% CI=0.494-0.876) and high education level(OR=0.723, 95% CI=0.559-0.935).Conclusions The obvious dis-function rate is high among left-behind elderly of ethnic minorities in rural minority areas of Guizhou. The left-behind elderly of ethnic minorities is a high risk group. In order to improve the activities of daily living of the left-behind elderly in this area, health education, chronic disease management and reasonable health policy should be taken by the government.