Background: Hypertension is an important risk factor that increases the cardiovascular disease-related morbidity and mortality, especially in elderly people. Objectives: The study aims to identify the hypertension rate among elderly residents of Can Tho city and some demographic, economic and social factors that were associated with hypertension in view of hypertension is changing with social and economic development. Subjects and method: The cross-sectional study involved 594 elderly people who were living in Can Tho city. Blood pressure was measured by the Korrotkoff method. The demographic, economic and social information was collected using questionnaire-based direct interviews. Results: The hypertension rate was quite high in the elderly group (51.9%). According to the WHO\u2019s ISH criteria, stage III occupied nearly 10%, stage II was approximately 15% and nearly one third of them in stage I. Age and living location were found to have significant impact to blood pressure status. Compared to the age group of 60 to 69, the elderly people in the age group of 70 to 79 were more likely to have hypertension by one and half times. And the risk was more than twice as high in the age group of 80 and above. These relationships were significant to p<0.05. The elderly people who were living in rural areas had twice the chance of having hypertension than those living in urban areas (p<0.001). Conclusion: The hypertension rate was quite high in elderly people in Can Tho city, Viet Nam. Age and living place were factors related to hypertension status in the elderly.
Hypertension ; Elderly

Background: Limitation of daily activities is the obstacle that prevents the elderly from achieving their desires. Objective: Aim to discover the prevalence and risk factors of the limitation in daily activities in the elderly. Subject and methods: This cross - sectional study was conducted in 4 provinces: Thai Nguyen, Ha Tay, Hue and Can Tho during June to December 2006 among 2.644 people at the age of 60 and above. Results: The overall prevalence of limitation of the elderly is 5.6%, and 4.3% is totally dependent and 1.3% is partly dependent. This proportion increases with age. It happens more in urban areas as opposed to rural and mountainous areas. Those living with their spouse have lower proportion of limitations. Can Tho and Ha Tay has the higher proportion of limitation than Hue and Thai Nguyen. Factors related to these limitations are aging (OR = 1.08; 1.06-1.10), not working at the current time (OR = 0.11; 0.05-0.28), ethnicity (OR = 2.25; 1.45-3.49), lack of physical exercise (OR = 2.24, 1.75-3.85), brain damage (OR = 15.18; 9.47-24.35), dementia (OR = 2.39; 1.62-3.54) and loss of vision (OR =1.32; 1.05-1.65). Conclusion: The limitation in daily activities tremendously affects the quality of life for the elderly. Age, working status, race, physical activity, accident of cerebral vessels, dementia and vision loss are statistic significant related factors for the limitation in daily activities of the elderly
Elderly ; daily activities