Demographic and clinical profiles of residents in long-term care facilities in South Africa: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Background: The demand for long-term care facilities (LTCFs) amongst older people in South Africa (SA) is growing and there is insufficient information on the profile and healthcare needs of this population.

Aim: This study was conducted to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of residents in LTFCs in SA.

Setting: Three LTCFs in eThekwini district.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to collect data from a purposive sample of 102 (N = 204) residents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic and clinical data. The data were entered into Microsoft Excel and analysed descriptively and inferentially using R version 3.5.1 software.

Results: The majority of the residents (59.8%) were between 65 and 80 years (78.9 ± 8.1 years) and 74.5% were women. The residents were white people (91.1%), SA born (82.4%) and widowed (54.9%). English was the primary language (91.1%), with the majority being christian (52.0%). Some residents had a university education, were previously employed and are financially independent. Ninety-three percent had clinical conditions, each suffering from at least three clinical conditions. Hypertension (63.7%), high cholesterol (53.9%), arthritis (38.2%), depression (37.3%) were the most prevalent clinical conditions recorded amongst the residents. Most residents were assessed to be intermediately frail, at risk of malnutrition and had mild depression as based on the respective mean frailty-, nutrition-, and geriatric depression scores.

Conc lusion: Residents in LTCFs in the eThekwini district are more likely to be white people; women, christian, widowed, intermediately frail and at risk of malnutrition.