Quality of life of elderly people attending a Geriatric Club: a cross sectional study in Dakahlia governorate, Egypt

Abstract

  Introduction: The quality of life (QoL) of older adults is largely affected with advancing age and the accompanying changes in health, independence, and social engagement. The objective of this study is to measure quality of life of the elderly adults and identify factors affecting it.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 elderly participants attending a geriatric club in Dakahlia governorate, Egypt. QoL was assessed by using Arabic version of SF-36 scale. This instrument contains eight subscales namely physical function (PF), role-physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), vitality (VT), social functioning (SF), role-emotional (RE), and mental health (MH).

Results: The total QoL score (mean ± standard deviation) is 62.39 ± 7.76 with the lowest score obtained in VT scale (48.04±14.32), and the highest scores are in SF scale (73.87± 17.97). Independent predictors of the total QoL scale are age (regression coefficient (95% CI) = -2.1 (-3.5 to -0.7), p value = 0.004), educational level (regression coefficient (95% CI) = -3.13 (-4.5 to -1.8), p value < 0.001), marital status (regression coefficient (95% CI) = -2.1 (-3.9 to -0.7), p value = 0.004), physical activity (regression coefficient (95% CI) = -2.3 (-3.9  to -0.8), p value < 0.001), comorbidities (regression coefficient (95% CI) = -3.8 (-5 to -2.4), p value < 0.001), and hospitalization (regression coefficient (95% CI) = -2.5 (-4.3 to -0.71), p value = 0.006).

Conclusions: QoL of old people is affected not only by aging but also by other factors such as educational level, marital status, physical activity, comorbidities and hospitalization. Older adults with substantial predictors of lower quality of life should be given more attention.