Unmet needs for assistance with activities of daily living among elderly in rural and urban areas in Kwara State Central Senatorial District, Nigeria

Objective: The elderly usually require assistance and sometimes have unmet needs for assistance with activities of daily living. This study assessed the unmet needs for assistance with activities of daily living among the elderly in rural and urban areas in Kwara Central Senatorial District, Nigeria. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected using pre-tested semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires from 300 elderly using the multistage sampling technique. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences 20 was used to analyze data, and the level of significance was predetermined at a p-value less than 0.05. Results: Overall, 60% of the elderly in the urban than rural group (46%) had unmet needs for assistance with activities of daily living. The prevalence of unmet needs for assistance with basic activities of daily living in the rural areas ranged from 0.0% (eating) to 70.8 % (bathing) and 0.0% (eating) to 68.8 % (transferring) in the urban areas. The prevalence of unmet needs for instrumental activities of daily living ranged from 16.7% (handling finances) to 59.3 % (cooking) for those in the rural areas. However, the range was from 33.3% (transportation) to 75.0% (taking medications) in the urban areas. The urban respondents had higher unmet needs for assistance with telephone use than rural respondents. (p=0.004*). Conclusion: The elderly in the urban areas had a higher prevalence of unmet needs for assistance with activities of daily living. The government must address the needs of the elderly through a policy to prevent unmet needs for assistance with activities of daily living.