The Quality of Life of Patients Over 60 Including Demographic and Environmental Factors

Abstract

Introduction. The population of older people is a diversified community. It can be differentiated by sex, marital status or education. These factors may be also connected with the assessment of older people's lifestyle. Not only life extension but also taking care about its quality provides a challenge to contemporary medicine.

Purpose. The quality of life assessment in patients over 60 including demographic and environmental factors.

Material and methods. The study was conducted by means of WHOQOL-BREF Questionnaire. 119 patients of the Geriatric Outpatient Clinic at dr A. Jurasz University Hospital No. 1 in Bydgoszcz and patients of district outpatient clinics in Bydgoszcz were involved in it.

Results. Those involved in the study gave the worst assessment to their quality of life in the physical area (13.99 ± 2.13 points), whereas the psychological area was assessed most favourably (15.32 ± 1.93 points). Statistically significant differences were determined between women and men (p=0.0421) as well as between the married and the widowed (p=0.0185) in the area of social relations, and between people with vocational education and those with university education (p=0.0015) in the area of environment.

Conclusions. As far as social relations are concerned, quality of life was assessed less favourably by women than by men and by the widowed than by the married. Sex and marital status had an influence on quality of life assessment in the field of social relations. As regards quality of life assessment, the level of education was influential. People with vocational education gave assessed quality of their life less favourably than those with university education.