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Article History

Received: 8 June 2020

Accepted: 16 December 2020

First Online: 6 January 2021

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: The ethics approval including participants’ approach and recruitment were granted by the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) Research Center, Bangladesh [Project Number PS/2018/1/11]. We contacted the Ward Councilors [representative of government administrative ward] of Sylhet City Corporation and provided them with a Letter of Introduction and an Information Sheet about the research. These Councilors organized ward-based yard-gatherings in alternative days, where the Information Sheet was read out to the potential participants by the Councilors, as most of the older adults were illiterate. The Councilors also informed the older adults about the aims of the research, and introduced the researchers at the end of all the gatherings. A written Informed Consent form approved by the SUST-Research Center was used to obtain consent from each of the older adults who expressed their interest to participant in the study. The participants who were illiterate used their thumb-print to provide consent. In relation to reviewing medical records of the participants, we contacted the Sylhet Civil Surgeon [Main authority in providing and managing healthcare for people living in Sylhet district] who considered the project’s ethics approval, participants’ consents and our application for accessing the participants’ medical data-sets.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declared no competing of interest.