| Abstract: | Abstract Comprehensive geriatric assessments of older adult residents of a senior-only development of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) conducted by a physician-investigator found that the majority of senior residents suffer from chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular, arthritis, diabetes, take more than five medications, have scored high on body mass index and are at nutritional risk. Surprisingly majority of residents function on their own and need no help in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and activities of daily living (ADL). They have very good mental health and only a very small proportion suffer from depression. The majority of the residents has a personal physician and is covered by Medicare. All of the residents are of low income, 38 percent of the residents living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the rest living on Social Security. Racially/Ethnically 66 percent of seniors are Black, 26 percent are Hispanics, 8 percent are White and less than 1 percent are other. Forty-seven percent of the residents are 75 years in age and over. |
