[Personal care habits of individuals over age 65 having no cognitive impairment and residing in the Guadalajara Health Care District].

Background: The aim of this study is that of ascertaining the characteristics of the personal care habits of those individuals over age 65 who have no cognitive impairment within the province of Guadalajara who are residents of the community based on the hypotheses that the same are deficient and therefore subject to improvement.

Methods: This is an observational, analytical cross-sectional study within a Primary Care, distinguishing between the urban and rural environments. A questionnaire (involving prior trial and reliability study by means of an analysis of the stability of the answers based on a kappa factor) was given out to a random, layered ample divided into different stages and proportional by age, gender and centers of population. An analysis was conducted of the following variables: A) Personal care habits. A. Personal care--daily washing/dressing: procedure and frequency, Hair Care, Always washing hands before eating and after going to the bathroom; Shaving for men, Oral hygiene. b. Sleep routine. B) Sociodemographic variables. The data was analyzed using proprietary descriptive, analytical and multivariable logistic regression procedures.

Results: The losses fell within the 16%-26% range (refusal was found to be the leading cause in the rural environmental and non-location in the urban environment). The sample finally studied included 388 individuals in the rural environment and 392 individuals in the urban environment. Half showered and washed their hair at least once a week. As high as 15% doe not wash always wash their hands before eating and as high as 44% do not do so after going to the bathroom. Over 50% of the males shave using the correct procedure. A high percentage of those missing part of their teeth as well as those completely toothless do not use dentures, and those who do are lacking in hygiene. Sleep routines shows better results.

Conclusions: Personal care habits among senior citizens in our province are patently subject to improvement in all of the aspects analyzed, especially in the rural environment and among males. This should be a priority task under the charge of anyone assigned to the Primary Care Teams.