Prevalence of disability among elderly people in the occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study

From the 2011 Palestinian Center Bureau of Statistics, disability is defined as long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment that can hinder full and effective participation in society; disability among elderly people has become a major public health concern in recent years. More than 1 billion people live with disability worldwide. In the occupied Palestinian territory, disability in elderly people is still not well understood. This study aims to assess the prevalence of disability among Palestinians aged 50 years or older and associated factors. Data were obtained from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Disability-Survey of 2011, representing the Palestinian population. People aged 50 years or older were selected. We gathered descriptive statistics and used multivariate binary logistic regression to check for confounders. Data were analysed with SPSS17 software. The total sample size was 8747 people aged 50 years or older. 71% of those had no disability and the remaining 29% reportedly had at least one disability, of which 53% represented problems with mobility, 26% vision, 11% hearing, 7% memory, 1% mental health, 1% communication, and 1% intellectual. Men were less likely to be disabled than women (odds ratio [OR] 0·75, 95% CI 0·64–0·89, p=0·001). The level of disability increased at age 70 and older (OR 1·96, 95% CI 1·67–2·31). The percentage of disabled elderly people increased among those who could not read compared with those educated (OR 2·93, 95% CI 2·36–3·63); decreased in those with large families compared with families of fewer than three people (for families of three to six people, OR 0·73, 95% CI 0·63–0·84; for families of seven to 27 people, 0·59, 0·50–0·70); increased in refugees compared with non-refugees (OR 1·26, 95% CI 1·07–1·47, p=0·005); increased in non-workers compared with workers (OR 2·96, 95% CI 2·50–3·49); and increased in those widowed and divorced compared with people who were married (OR 1·25, 95% CI 1·07–1·47, p=0·005). Compared with the centre of the West Bank, the number of people with disability was highest in the Gaza Strip (OR 2·23, 95% CI 1·89–2·63), followed by north West Bank (OR 2·60, 95% CI 2·22–3·05), and south West Bank (OR 1·95, 95% CI 1·63–2·33). Disability is more prevalent in women, those not educated, refugees, non-workers, widowed and divorced individuals, and people in Gaza. Further investigations are needed to establish the main causes of disability in the occupied Palestinia