WORLD JOURNAL OF ADVANCE
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH

*Hayder Abdulameer Abed and Mohammed A. Al-Bayaty

ABSTRACT

Background: An essential instrument in the analysis of health status is the identification and stratification of risksin specific groups exposed to conditions and factors that prioritize their need for medical care. Objective: Tomeasure the Work Ability Index and its association with socio-demographics, obesity, and history of chronicdisease and other work-related factors among elderly populations. Method: A cross-sectional study wasconducted in two primary health care centers, Baghdad Health Directorate-Al-Karkh, Iraq during the period fromthe 1st of October 2023 to the 1st of January 2024. A convenient sample of 200 participants. Inclusion criteriaincluded elderly people with an age of ≥60 years old. The Work Ability Index was used to assess work ability.Results: About 8% of the participants had an excellent Work Ability Index, 24.5% had a good, 35% had amoderate, and 32.5% had a poor Work Ability Index. There were significant associations between the WorkAbility Index score and age (P-value=0.045), gender (P-value=0.004), smoking (P-value=0.043), diabetes mellitus(P-value=0.042), and rheumatological disease (P-values=0.003). Non-manual workers tend towards a significantlyhigher Work Ability Index compared to manual workers. Conclusion: About two-thirds of the participants hadpoor-moderate Work Ability Index scores. Age of ≥ 70 years, male gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus,rheumatological disease, and manual work were significantly associated with a lower proportion of patients withgood-excellent Work Ability Index scores.

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