Gender and seasonal variations in patients reporting to geriatrics clinic at a tertiary care hospital in north India – As a prelude for planning

Introduction: The profile of the geriatric population, who are coming to a health institution is an essential step to lay down the premises for planning any strategy to provide proper health-care facilities for this group of people. The present study was undertaken with the objectives: (1) to find out the magnitude and the trend of cases reporting in geriatric clinic at a tertiary care hospital over a period of eight years, and (2) to find out gender and seasonal differences of geriatric cases, if any. Methods & results: Secondary data for eight years i.e. from March 2008 to February 2016 was obtained from Geriatric clinic at tertiary care institution and analysed as per gender and seasons. Total of 129 087 elderly patients reported to geriatric clinic. Majority of the elderly were male (67 033, 51.9%) and reported during summer (45 824, 35.5%). More number of male geriatric cases reported in the clinic (male: female=1.03 – 1.23) during study period except in the year 2015-2016. No significant difference was found in reporting of patients as per gender (p=0.69). The seasonal variations shown indefinite trend with statistically significant difference was found overall (p=0.00). A significant drop in reporting of geriatric patients was seen from the year 2011-2012 (20 316 cases) to the year 2012-2013 (12 989 cases) (p=0.00). The patients in the age group of 60-69 years reported more during all seasons as compare to patients in other age groups, and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p=0.00). Conclusion: The gender of elderly, type of season and preference for female physicians by female geriatric patients, effects the reporting by elderly patients in geriatric clinic. These findings will help in improving overall planning and management of health care of elderly in an institution.