Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

authors:

avatar Ashraf Ghiasi ORCID 1 , *

Student Research Committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran

how to cite: Ghiasi A. Prevalence of Elder Abuse and Neglect in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Shiraz E-Med J. 2018;19(11):e81045. https://doi.org/10.5812/semj.81045.

Abstract

Context:

Elder abuse remains one of the most hidden forms of intra-family conflict within many societies. The purpose of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the prevalence of elder abuse in Iran.

Methods:

International and national electronic databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, SID, Magiran, Irandoc and Google Scholar were searched from inception to April 22, 2018. The quality of studies was assessed using the “STROBE” checklist. Meta-analysis was performed on studies that used the same questionnaire and reported estimates of annual prevalence of elder abuse.

Results:

Of 1386 articles retrieved in the initial search, 13 studies were selected for systematic review, of which eight studies were eligible to be included in the meta-analysis. The overall rates across all forms of abuse ranged widely from 14.7% to 87.8%. The pooled prevalence rate for overall elder abuse was 60% (95% CI: 42% - 78%). The pooled prevalence estimate in the domains of elder abuse was 13% (95% CI: 7% - 18%) for physical abuse, 36% (95% CI: 24% - 47%) for psychological abuse, 31% (95% CI: 18% - 43%) for financial abuse, 28% (95% CI: 19% - 37%) for financial neglect, 36% (95% CI: 22% - 50%) for care neglect, 43% (95% CI: 31% - 55%) for emotional neglect, 25% (95% CI: 16% - 35%) for authority deprivation, and 13% (95% CI: 8% - 18%) for abandonment.

Conclusions:

The results of the study showed the high prevalence of elder abuse in Iran, which requires the initiation of effective interventions by the legal authorities.

1. Context

Elder abuse, also called elder mistreatment or elder maltreatment, is “a single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust that causes harm or distress to an older person” (1, 2). This type of violence includes: (i) Physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse; (ii) financial and material abuse; (iii) abandonment; (iv) neglect; and (v) serious loss of dignity and respect (3). The health consequences of elder abuse can be especially serious (4). It can destroy a victim’s quality of life by declining his functional abilities, increasing dependency, inducing dementia and enhancing the risk of malnutrition or over medication (5, 6). Elder abuse can even result in death.

Prospective studies have demonstrated that victims of elder abuse are at a higher risk for premature death than those not reporting abuse, especially in black populations (7, 8). Although elder mistreatment is not a new phenomenon, its formal recognition has only occurred over the last 20 to 30 years. A systematic literature review reported the prevalence of elder abuse in Asian countries ranged from 0.22 per 1000 to 62% (9). Yon et al. in a meta-analysis of various countries across the globe found a prevalence rate of 15.7% for elder abuse (10). Concern over the abuse of older adults has been heightened with the realization that the elderly population will increase dramatically in the coming decades (11). It is predicted that the proportion of the world’s population aged 60 years and older will nearly double from about 12% in 2015 to 22% in 2050 (12, 13). Iran is no exception in this regard.

In 2016, about 9.3% of Iran’s population was 60 years or over, and it is expected to rise to 30% by 2050 (14). In recent years, several studies have investigated elder abuse in different cities of Iran, but none has systematically summarized them. Hence, regarding the rapid growth of the aged people in this country and the importance of the elder abuse as a factor influencing older adults’ health and quality of life, this systematic review was conducted to assess the prevalence of elder abuse and its neglect in Iran. Understanding the magnitude of elder abuse is a crucial first step in the public health approach to prevent this type of violence (10). On the other hand, awareness about the frequency of elder abuse facilitates other related studies.

2. Objectives

The present systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to determine the prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in Iran.

3. Methods

3.1. Search Strategy

The following databases were searched between 10 March and 22 April 2018 to identify eligible articles: Magiran, Scientific Information Database (SID), Irandoc, Scopus, PubMed and Web of Science. Databases were searched with no time restriction. The following terms or a combination of them was used for searching in English electronic databases: “aged”, “elderly”, “older adults”, “senior aging”, “abuse”, “geriatric”, “elder abuse”, “elder neglect”, “elder misbehavior”, “elder mistreatment”, “violence”, “prevalence”, “cross-sectional”, “Iran” and “Iranian”. Boolean operators (AND, OR) were used wherever possible. Persian terms equivalent to the English terms mentioned above were used for searching in Persian electronic databases. Google Scholar was also searched to ensure that no article is missed. In a final search, the reference lists of all the included articles were also manually reviewed to identify any additional articles (snowball method). Unpublished studies were not searched in this review.

3.2. Study Selection Criteria

The selection process was conducted in three steps. First, the titles of all the collected articles were reviewed and duplicates were removed. Second, abstracts of all the articles that were somehow relevant to the study subject were collected. Finally, studies that investigated the prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in a sample of Iranian elderly population were included in this study. The following were excluded: (1) hospital-based studies, (2) studies with sample sizes less than 100, (3) studies that were not published as full reports like conference abstracts and (4) articles that were not available in their full text.

3.3. Data Extraction

The following information was extracted from studies that met the inclusion criteria: study characteristics (the first author, year of publication, year of study and location), study methodology (sampling method and the instrument used to measure elder abuse), characteristics of participants (age and gender), sample size, prevalence rates and other relevant information.

3.4. Quality Assessment

The quality of the included studies was assessed based on a modified version of the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) checklist (15). This checklist consists of 22 items; scores on each item range from 0 to 2. A score of 2 is awarded if the “criterion was fully met”, 1 if the “criterion was partially met” and 0 if the “criterion was not met”. Scores of 0 - 22, 23 - 33 and 34 - 44 are defined as low, moderate and high quality, respectively.

3.5. Statistical Analysis

The standard errors were calculated by the following formula:

Equation 1.

p is the proportion of successes in the sample and n is the number of observations in the sample. Data were analyzed using RevMan software, version 5.3 (16). Pooled estimates of the prevalence of elder abuse were calculated using the random-effects model.

4. Results

4.1. Literature Search

On the initial search, 1386 articles were retrieved. After excluding 374 duplicates and 992 irrelevant articles, 20 studies remained for full-text evaluation. Of these, seven studies were excluded because two of them did not contain prevalence information, two had a sample size of less than 100 subjects, one was an abstract from a conference, one was a hospital-based study and full text of the other articles was not available. Finally, 13 articles were considered for the systematic review (Figure 1).

PRISMA flow diagram of literature search and selection process
PRISMA flow diagram of literature search and selection process

4.2. Study Characteristics

The years the studies were performed and published ranged from 2007 to 2015 and from 2008 to 2017, respectively. The total number of participants was 4357, with a range of 180 to 500 per study. All the 13 included studies were cross-sectional and quantitative in nature. One study reported data only for females (17), while the remainder included male as well as female participants. Eight studies used the Iranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire (17-24), three (25-27) used a researcher-designed questionnaire and two studies (28, 29) used the elder assessment instrument. Nine studies (17-24, 27) provided past-year prevalence data for abuse and four (25, 26, 28, 29) provided prevalence data for any abuse that had occurred since the victims became older adults (i.e., aged 60 - 65 years and older; Table 1).

Table 1.

Characteristics of the Included Studies

First Author - Publication Year ParticipantsGenderInstruments to Assess AbusePrevalence PeriodMethod of Data CollectionSampling ProcedurePrevalence Rates
Khalili - 2016 (22)500 people aged over 60 years, who had health care records in health centers in Kashan, Esfahan290 (58%) male, 210 (42%) femaleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 80%
Financial abuse = 45.6%
Psychological abuse = 45%
Authority deprivation = 41.2%
Financial neglect = 37.8%
Care neglect = 35.6%
Emotional neglect = 29.8%
Physical abuse = 22.2%
Abandonment = 16.6%
Morowatisharifabad - 2016 (23)250 people aged over 60 years in Yazd, Yazd126 (50.4%) male, 124 (49.6%) femaleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 79.6%
Emotional neglect = 66%
Care neglect = 52.4%
Financial abuse = 44.8%
Psychological abuse = 42.8%
Financial neglect = 16.4%
Authority deprivation = 15.6%
Abandonment = 8.4%
Physical abuse = 4.4%
Mohebbi - 2016 (21)210 people aged over 60 years, who were referred to rural health centers in Dezful, Khuzestan116 (55.2%) male, 94 (44.8%) femaleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 60.5%
Emotional neglect = 38.6%
Financial neglect = 22.8%
Authority deprivation = 15.3%
Financial abuse = 14.3%
Physical abuse = 14.3%
Psychological abuse = 12.4%
Abandonment = 12.9%
Care neglect = 7.3%
Keyghobadi - 2014 (17)180 people aged over 60 years, who were referred to mosques and clinics in Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi180 (100%) femaleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 49.4%
Emotional neglect = 69%
Care neglect = 52%
Financial abuse = 48.5%
Psychological abuse = 47.3%
Authority deprivation = 45.4%
Financial neglect = 44.8%
Physical abuse = 44.5%
Abandonment = 42.8
Nori - 2014 (19)247 people aged over 60 years, who had health care records in urban or rural health centers in Kalaleh, Golestan137 (55.5%) male, 110 (44.5%) femaleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = -
Emotional neglect = 34.8%
Care neglect = 33.6%
Financial neglect = 29.1%
Psychological abuse = 26.7%
Authority deprivation = 22.3%
Financial abuse = 21.9%
Abandonment = 12.6%
Physical abuse = 2.8%
Nassiri - 2016 (20)465 people aged over 60 years, who were referred to urban or rural health centers in Gorgan and Aq-Qala, Golestan253 (55.4%) female, 212 (44.6%) maleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 63.3%
Care neglect = 59.8%
Psychological abuse = 53.3%
Emotional neglect = 43%
Financial abuse = 39.1%
Financial neglect = 34%
Authority deprivation = 34%
Abandonment = 8.2%
Physical abuse = 8%
Heravi Karimoei - 2012 (18)379 people aged over 65 years, who were members of the senior social clubs in Tehran, Tehran254 (67%) female, 125 (33%) maleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 25.9%
Emotional neglect = 17.4%
Psychological abuse = 17.2%
Care neglect = 14.8%
Authority deprivation = 10%
Financial neglect = 9.8%
Financial abuse = 7.9%
Physical abuse = 4.7%
Abandonment = 3.7%
Kashfi - 2017 (24)226 people aged over 60 years, who were referred to urban healthcare and retirement centers in Shiraz, Shiraz61 (27.4%) male, 165 (72.6%) femaleIranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire1 yearFace-to-face interview + aelf-administeredRandom samplingPrevalence = -
Emotional neglect = 43.8%
Psychological abuse = 41.2%
Care neglect = 31.9%
Financial neglect = 28.8%
Financial abuse = 23%
Authority deprivation = 20.8%
Physical abuse = 7%
Abandonment = 4%
Manoochehri - 2009 (25)400 people aged over 60 years, who were referred to parks in Tehran, Tehran200 (50%) male, 200 (50%) femaleResearcher-made questionnaireSince aged 60Face-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 87.8%
Psychological abuse = 84.8%
Neglect = 68.3%
Financial abuse = 40.1%
Physical abuse = 35.2%
Barzanjeh Atri - 2013 (26)415 elderly people aged over 60 years, who were referred to urban health centers in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan258 (62.2%) male, 157 (37.8%) femaleResearcher-made questionnaire based on H-S/EAST and other related studiesSince aged 60Face-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = -
Psychological abuse = 91%
Physical abuse = 12.3%
Financial abuse = 14.3%
Neglect = 29.9%
Alizadeh Khoei - 2014 (27)300 people aged over 60 years, who had health care records in urban health centers in Ahvaz, Khuzestan160 (53.3%) female, 140 (46.7%) maleResearcher- made questionnaire based on H-S/EAST1 yearFace-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 14.7%
Physical abuse = 10.3%
Care neglect = 9%
Psychological abuse= 3%
Financial abuse = 3%
Karimi - 2008 (28)385 people aged over 60 years, who were in urban public places in Ahvaz, Khuzestan205 (53.2%) female, 180 (46.8%) maleElder assessment instrumentSince aged 60Face-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 10.5% – 25%
Neglect = 31.7%
Financial abuse = 25%
Psychological abuse = 16.9%
Abandonment = 12%
Physical abuse = 10.5%
Hosseini - 2016 (29)400 people aged over 60 years, who were in public places in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province240 (60%) female, 60 (40%) maleElder assessment instrumentSince aged 60Face-to-face interviewRandom samplingPrevalence = 17.1%
Physical abuse = 35.9%
Abandonment = 23.3%
Psychological abuse = 31.9%
Financial abuse = 14.3%
Neglect = 14.6%

4.3. Estimated Prevalence of Elder Abuse

With regard to differences among instruments in assessing elder abuse, data originally used from 13 studies were on physical, psychological and financial abuse (17-29), 10 studies on abandonment (17-24, 28, 29), nine studies on care neglect (17-24, 27), eight studies on financial neglect, emotional neglect and authority deprivation (17-24), four studies on neglect (25, 26, 28, 29), and 10 studies on overall prevalence of elder abuse and neglect (17, 18, 20-23, 25, 27, 28). The overall rates across all forms of abuse ranged from 14.7% in a study from Ahvaz, Iran (27) to 87.8% in a study from Tehran, Iran (25). With regard to the different forms of abuse, a wide range of prevalence rates was again demonstrated. Rates of physical abuse ranged between 2.8 % (19) and 44.5% (17), psychological abuse ranged between 3% (27) and 91% (26), financial abuse ranged between 3% (16) and 48.5% (11), neglect ranged between 14.6% (29) and 68.3% (25), emotional neglect ranged between 17.4% (18) and 69% (17), care neglect ranged between 7.3% (21) and 59.8% (20), financial neglect ranged between 9.8% (18) and 44.8% (17), authority deprivation ranged between 10% (18) and 45.4% (17) and abandonment rates ranged between 3.7% (18) and 42.8% (17).

Eight studies were eligible to be included in the meta-analysis. The criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis were: (1) Studies that used the same questionnaire and (2) studies that provided past-year prevalence data. Hence, only studies that used Iranian domestic elder abuse questionnaire were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. For the prevalence estimates, we used data from eight studies on physical abuse, psychological abuse, financial abuse, emotional neglect, financial neglect, care neglect, authority deprivation and abandonment (10-24) and six studies on the overall prevalence of elder abuse and neglect (17, 18, 20-23).

The pooled prevalence rate for overall elder abuse was 60% (95% CI: 42% - 78%; Figure 2).

Forest plot of prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in the elderly in Iran
Forest plot of prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in the elderly in Iran

The pooled prevalence estimates in the domains of elder abuse were 13% (95% CI: 7% - 18%) for physical abuse, 36% (95% CI: 24% - 47%) for psychological abuse, 31% (95% CI: 18% - 43%) for financial abuse, 28% (95% CI: 19% - 37%) for financial neglect, 36% (95% CI: 22% - 50%) for care neglect, 43% (95% CI: 31% - 55%) for emotional neglect, 25% (95% CI: 16% - 35%) for authority deprivation and 13% (95% CI: 8% - 18%) for abandonment (Figure 3).

Forest plot of prevalence of elder abuse domains in the elderly in Iran
Forest plot of prevalence of elder abuse domains in the elderly in Iran

4.4. Quality of the Included Studies

The STROBE scores for the included studies ranged from 25 to 35 out of 44 points (moderate-to-high quality; Table 2).

Table 2.

Study Quality According to the STROBE Criteriaa, b

S.Study DetailsSTROBE Items
NO.12345678910111213141516171819202122Total Score
1Khalili, 2016 (22)××ΔΔΔΔΔΔ34
2Morowatisharifabad, 2016 (23)××ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ33
3Mohebbi, 2016 (21)××ΔΔ×ΔΔ34
4Keyghobadi, 2014 (17)×××ΔΔΔ×ΔΔΔ×28
5Nori, 2014 (19)×××ΔΔΔΔΔ×ΔΔ×27
6Nassiri, 2016 (20)××ΔΔΔ×ΔΔ33
7Heravi Karimoei, 2012 (18)××ΔΔΔΔΔ35
8Manoochehri, 2009 (25)×Δ×××ΔΔ××ΔΔ×25
9Barzanjeh Atri, 2013 (26)××××ΔΔ×ΔΔ×28
10Alizadeh Khoei, 2014 (27)×Δ×ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ×30
11Karimi, 2008 (28)×Δ×ΔΔΔΔ××ΔΔ×27
12Hosseini, 2016 (29)×××ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ×29
13Kashfi, 2017 (24)×Δ×ΔΔΔΔ35

5. Discussion

This systematic review and meta-analysis study, based on a comprehensive search strategy, was conducted to better understand the prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in Iran. Thirteen studies were included in this review, of which eight studies were eligible to be included in the meta-analysis. Quality assessment showed that 4 (30.7%) studies had high quality and 9 (69.3%) studies had moderate quality. Of the articles reviewed, nine were published between 2014 and 2017. This growing rate shows that, in recent years, more attention has been paid to the study of elder abuse in Iran. The overall prevalence rates of abuse showed a high variability across studies, ranging from 14.7% to 87.8%. Although this systematic review identified 13 studies on prevalence, the meta-analysis only focused on studies that used the same questionnaire and reported estimates of past-year prevalence of elder abuse.

Findings from the meta-analysis revealed that the overall prevalence of elder abuse and neglect was 60%. Compared to the reported prevalence rates of elder abuse in other countries, this rate is close to those reported from some countries such as India (49%), Croatia (61.1%) and Peru (79.7%), but the rates reported from Ireland (2.2%), United Kingdom (2.6%), Canada (8.2%) and United States (10%) were considerably lower than the result of this review (30-36).

This review also found that prevalence estimates for abuse subtypes were highest for emotional neglect (43%), followed by psychological abuse (36%), care neglect (36%), financial abuse (31%), financial neglect (28%), authority deprivation (25%), abandonment (13%) and physical abuse (13%). A study in China showed that the prevalence rates of psychological abuse, caregiver neglect, physical abuse and financial abuse were 27.3%, 15.8%, 4.9% and 2.0%, respectively (37). In a national survey on elder abuse and neglect in Ireland, the prevalence rates of 1.3%, 1.2%, 0.5% and 0.3% were reported for financial abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse and neglect, respectively (33). A study in Egypt reported that neglect was the most common type of abuse (42.4%), followed by physical abuse (5.7%), psychological abuse (5.1%) and financial abuse (3.8%) (38). The difference in the prevalence of elder abuse in various studies could be the result of different definitions of abuse, different sampling or recruiting methodologies, different instruments for assessing abuse, different levels of vulnerability of the surveyed older people and variability in communities’ characteristics and cultural contexts (39).

5.1. Limitations

This review has some limitations. Almost in all the included studies, elderly people were relatively healthy; thus, the results should be cautiously extrapolated to all country's older population. The difference in the questionnaires used in the studies was another limitation that prevented us from conducting a meta-analysis for all the available studies.

5.2. Conclusion

The present study revealed a high prevalence of elder abuse in Iran. The high prevalence of this problem shows that it is not enough to limit the support of the elderly to culture-building for families and religious teachings. Currently, there is less difference between the laws of ordinary people and the elderly in our country. Therefore, due to the rapid growth of the elderly population in the country, social protection and elderly-related legislation are two main issues for protecting the elderly as one of the most vulnerable strata. Also, due to the limited number of studies in this area in Iran, further research, especially in cities of provinces with large aging populations such as Guilan, is necessary. Studies aiming to assess the prevalence and influencing factors of abuse and negligence against elder people from the perspective of family members, home caregivers and professional nurses are recommended.

Acknowledgements

References

  • 1.

    Vetere PM. Elder abuse: What are we missing? Can Fam Physician. 2011;57(7):783-5. [PubMed ID: 21753101]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC3135443].

  • 2.

    Sooryanarayana R, Choo WY, Hairi NN. A review on the prevalence and measurement of elder abuse in the community. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2013;14(4):316-25. [PubMed ID: 23878148]. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838013495963.

  • 3.

    Mikton CR, Tanaka M, Tomlinson M, Streiner DL, Tonmyr L, Lee BX, et al. Global research priorities for interpersonal violence prevention: A modified Delphi study. Bull World Health Organ. 2017;95(1):36-48. [PubMed ID: 28053363]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC5180342]. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.172965.

  • 4.

    Pillemer K, Burnes D, Riffin C, Lachs MS. Elder abuse: Global situation, risk factors, and prevention strategies. Gerontologist. 2016;56 Suppl 2:S194-205. [PubMed ID: 26994260]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC5291158]. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnw004.

  • 5.

    Comijs HC, Penninx BW, Knipscheer KP, van Tilburg W. Psychological distress in victims of elder mistreatment: The effects of social support and coping. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 1999;54(4):P240-5. [PubMed ID: 12382593].

  • 6.

    Dong X. Medical implications of elder abuse and neglect. Clin Geriatr Med. 2005;21(2):293-313. [PubMed ID: 15804552]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cger.2004.10.006.

  • 7.

    Lachs MS, Williams CS, O'Brien S, Pillemer KA, Charlson ME. The mortality of elder mistreatment. JAMA. 1998;280(5):428-32. [PubMed ID: 9701077].

  • 8.

    Dong X, Simon MA, Fulmer T, Mendes de Leon CF, Hebert LE, Beck T, et al. A prospective population-based study of differences in elder self-neglect and mortality between black and white older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2011;66(6):695-704. [PubMed ID: 21498840]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC3110911]. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/glr053.

  • 9.

    Yan E, Chan KL, Tiwari A. A systematic review of prevalence and risk factors for elder abuse in Asia. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2015;16(2):199-219. [PubMed ID: 25380662]. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838014555033.

  • 10.

    Yon Y, Mikton CR, Gassoumis ZD, Wilber KH. Elder abuse prevalence in community settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2017;5(2):e147-56. [PubMed ID: 28104184]. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30006-2.

  • 11.

    Krug EG, Mercy JA, Dahlberg LL, Zwi AB. The world report on violence and health. Lancet. 2002;360(9339):1083-8. [PubMed ID: 12384003]. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11133-0.

  • 12.

    World Health Organization. World Health Organization; 2015. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs404/en/Accessed March 25, 2016.

  • 13.

    Bloom DE, Canning D, Fink G. Implications of population ageing for economic growth. Oxf Rev Econ Policy. 2010;26(4):583-612.

  • 14.

    None. 2018. Available from: https://roozame.com/detail/4693664.

  • 15.

    Vandenbroucke JP, von Elm E, Altman DG, Gotzsche PC, Mulrow CD, Pocock SJ, et al. Strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE): Explanation and elaboration. Epidemiology. 2007;18(6):805-35. [PubMed ID: 18049195]. https://doi.org/10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181577511.

  • 16.

    Review Manager (RevMan) [Computer program]. Version 5.3. Copenhagen: The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration; 2014.

  • 17.

    Keyghobadi F, Moghaddam Hosseini V, Keyghobadi F, Rakhshani MH. [Prevalence of elder abuse against women and associated factors]. J Mazandaran Univ Med Sci. 2014;24(117):125-32. Persian.

  • 18.

    Heravi Karimoei M, Reje N, Foroughan M, Montazeri A. [Elderly abuse rates within family among members of senior social clubs in Tehran]. Iran J Age. 2012;6(4):37-50. Persian.

  • 19.

    Nori A, Rajabi A, Esmailzadeh F. [Prevalence of elder misbehavior in northern Iran (2012)]. J Gorgan Univ Med Sci. 2014;16(4). Persian.

  • 20.

    Nassiri H, Heravi Karimooi M, Jouybari L, Sanagoo A, Chehrehgosha M. [The prevalence of elder abuse in Gorgan and Aq-Qala cities, Iran in 2013]. Iran J Age. 2016;10(4):162-73. Persian.

  • 21.

    Mohebbi L, Zahednejad S, Javadi Pour S, Saki A. [Domestic elder abuse in rural area of Dezful, Iran and its relation with their quality of life]. Iran J Age. 2016;10(4):50-9. Persian.

  • 22.

    Khalili Z, Taghadosi M, Gilasi H, Sadrollahi A. The prevalence of elder abuse and associated factors among the elderly in Kashan city, Iran. J Bas Res Med Sci. 2016;3(2):26-34.

  • 23.

    Morowatisharifabad MA, Rezaeipandari H, Dehghani A, Zeinali A. Domestic elder abuse in Yazd, Iran: A cross-sectional study. Health Promot Perspect. 2016;6(2):104-10. [PubMed ID: 27386426]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC4932221]. https://doi.org/10.15171/hpp.2016.18.

  • 24.

    Kashfi SM, Asadi A, Tabatabaee SH, Yazdankhah M, Khani Jeihooni A, Rakhshani T, et al. Elder abuse in Shiraz, Iran. Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci. 2017;11(2). https://doi.org/10.5812/ijpbs.4667.

  • 25.

    Manoochehri H, Ghorbi B, Hosseini M, Nasiri Oskuyee N, Karbakhsh M. [Degree and types of domestic abuse in the elderly referring to parks of Tehran]. Adv Nurs Midwifery. 2009;18(63):43-50. Persian.

  • 26.

    Barzanjeh Atri S, Behshid M, Seydi S, Sahebi MH. Abuse to elders living with family in Iran-Tabriz. Int Res J Appl Basic Sci. 2013;4(2):424-9.

  • 27.

    Alizadeh-Khoei M, Sharifi F, Hossain SZ, Fakhrzadeh H, Salimi Z. Elder abuse: Risk factors of abuse in elderly community-dwelling Iranians. Educ Gerontol. 2014;40(7):543-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/03601277.2013.857995.

  • 28.

    Karimi M, Elahi N. [Elderly abuse in Ahwaz city and its relationship with individual and social characteristics]. Iran J Age. 2008;3(1):42-7. Persian.

  • 29.

    Hosseini RS, SalehAbadi R, Javanbakhtiyan R, Alijanpouraghamaleki M, Borhaninejad VR, Pakpour V. [A comparison on elderly abuse in Persian and Turkish race in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari Province]. J Sabzevar Univ Med Sci. 2016;23(1). Persian.

  • 30.

    Sebastian D, Sekher TV. Extent and nature of elder abuse in Indian families: A study in Kerala. Help Age India Res Dev J. 2011;17:20-8.

  • 31.

    Ajdukovic M, Ogresta J, Rusac S. Family violence and health among elderly in Croatia. J Aggress Maltreat Trauma. 2009;18(3):261-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926770902835873.

  • 32.

    Silva-Fhon JR, Rio-Suarez D, Defilia A, Motta-Herrera SN, Coelho Fabricio-Wehbe SC, Partezani-Rodrigues RA. Domestic violence in older people living in the district of Breña, Peru. Revista de la Facultad de Medicina. 2015;63(3):367-75.

  • 33.

    Naughton C, Drennan J, Lyons I, Lafferty A, Treacy M, Phelan A, et al. Elder abuse and neglect in Ireland: Results from a national prevalence survey. Age Ageing. 2012;41(1):98-103. [PubMed ID: 21997767]. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afr107.

  • 34.

    Biggs S, Manthorpe J, Tinker A, Doyle M, Erens B. Mistreatment of older people in the United Kingdom: Findings from the first national prevalence study. J Elder Abuse Negl. 2009;21(1):1-14. [PubMed ID: 19197619]. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946560802571870.

  • 35.

    McDonald L. The mistreatment of older Canadians: Findings from the 2015 national prevalence study. J Elder Abuse Negl. 2018;30(3):176-208. [PubMed ID: 29601283]. https://doi.org/10.1080/08946566.2018.1452657.

  • 36.

    Acierno R, Hernandez MA, Amstadter AB, Resnick HS, Steve K, Muzzy W, et al. Prevalence and correlates of emotional, physical, sexual, and financial abuse and potential neglect in the United States: The national elder mistreatment study. Am J Public Health. 2010;100(2):292-7. [PubMed ID: 20019303]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC2804623]. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.163089.

  • 37.

    Wu L, Chen H, Hu Y, Xiang H, Yu X, Zhang T, et al. Prevalence and associated factors of elder mistreatment in a rural community in People's Republic of China: A cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 2012;7(3). e33857. [PubMed ID: 22448276]. [PubMed Central ID: PMC3309016]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033857.

  • 38.

    Abdel Rahman TT, El Gaafary MM. Elder mistreatment in a rural area in Egypt. Geriatr Gerontol Int. 2012;12(3):532-7. [PubMed ID: 22212376]. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-0594.2011.00780.x.

  • 39.

    Cohen M. Screening tools for the identification of elder abuse. J Clin Outcome Manage. 2011;18(6):261-70.