The impact of the war against russian military aggression on the health of the population of older age groups of Transcarpathian region

Abstract

Objective: to study the impact of the war against Russian military aggression on the health of the population of older age groups of Transcarpathian region. Materials and methods. Materials: results of a sociological survey of 237 permanent residents of Transcarpathian region over the age of 60. Methods: bibliosemantic, sociological, medico-statistical, of structural-and-logical analysis. Results. During the war against Russian military aggression, the health of 89.0% of respondents worsened, while 76.4% of respondents started seeking for medical help less often, and 40.9% of respondents started practicing self-treatment more often. The level of personal health as a personal priority decreased by 9.3 times: from 47.3% to 5.1%. The main socio-economic consequences that negatively affect the health of the permanent population of older age groups of the region, which is remote from the zone of active hostilities, include: constant fear for the life and health of relatives (8.4 points), forced separation of families (8.3 points), tragic loss of relatives (7.9 points), low level of Internet and mobile communications (forced isolation) (5.7 points), decrease in the level of economic security (4.8 points). The main behavioral and biological determinants that negatively affect the respondents' health include: loss of previous stable conditions of quality of life (6.2 points) when living in unfavorable sanitary and hygienic conditions (6.2–5.1 points) and in constant stress (6.1 points). Conclusions. The results of the study indicate the negative impact of the war against Russian military aggression on the health of the population of older age groups of the territory remote from the zone of active hostilities.