Quality of life among elderly population

Introduction: Quality of Life (QoL) among elderly is an important issue that reflects the status of well-being of this vulnerable population. Aim: This study aims to assess quality of life among elderly population and to examine possible correlations with associated demographic, social and health factors. Material and Method: A cross sectional study was conducted, in which 257 elderlies from Greece were participated. For the data collection the WHOQOL-BREF (30-items Greek version) questionnaire was used as well as a questionnaire with questions about demographic data, social & health factors. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means, percentages and standard deviations have been utilized. Inferential statistics such as t-test and pearson r correlation have been used to determined correlations between relevant variables. Level of significance accepted is p < 0.05. Results: From the total 257 elderlies 55.6% (n=143) were women and 44.4% (n=114) were men with a mean age 75.12±8.39. The mean score of overall QoL is 14.14±2.87 and the mean of each factor of WHOQOL-BREF is 13.56±2.79 for physical health, 13.61±2.74 for mental health, 13.72±2.60 for social relationships and 13.70±1.96 for environment. Age, marital status, number of children, level of education, residence area, lifestyle, chronic diseases and serious illnesses are the factors that affects levels of QoL among Greek elderly population Conclusions: Results indicates that levels of QoL between elderly are moderate and many demographic, social and health factors are correlated with QoL status