Turk Geriatri Dergisi, cilt.5, sa.3, ss.97-102, 2002 (SCI-Expanded)
The socio-economic dimension of "elderaess" is extremely important in addition to its demographic and physiological extent. The most considerable health problems among 65 years and older ages are the chronic and degenerative diseases. In this study carried out in Sakarya Neighbourhood, Altindaǧ Center Region, we aimed both to determine some socio-demographic characteristics of people 65 years and older and to assess their life activities, health status and perceplions about "elderness". 205 of the total 225 elder people participated in this cross-sectional study. The avera-geageofthe participants was 70.3 (SD=4.6), 44.9% of the group was female; 68.1% of them was married. Only 25.3% of the elder people living in this Neighbourhood were secondary school and higher educated. The most frequent health problem mentioned by the participants was "hypertension (56.1%)". Moreover, the most recurrent answer about the drugs consumed by the population group were drugs for cardiovascular diseases (54.6%), diabetic drugs (12.2 %) and analgesics (10.7%). 21.9% of the population highlighted that they were not using any.