Складові якості життя паліативного пацієнта. Якість життя осіб похилого та старечого віку

Abstract

In most of the post-industrial countries of the world, profound demographic and social changes are taking place, consisting in the aging of the population with a significant accumulation of elderly and senile people in the populations. This leads to significant shifts in the structure of morbidity and mortality, especially among the elderly and senile persons. The epidemiology of morbidity and mortality among these patients already today imposes complex organizational and financial problems on all national health systems of the countries concerned. In this regard, the concept of «quality of life» is becoming increasingly important and is used in the formation of medical, social policy and their solution to the problems of human adaptation to living conditions, have changed with aging and the appearance of incurable diseases inherent in old age. Thus, the quality of life can be considered as an integral indicator reflecting the degree of adaptation of a person to a disease and the ability to perform its inherent functions in accordance with its socio-economic situation. Assessment of the quality of life is based on a wide range of quality of life criteria developed by WHO, such as physical, psychological, level of independence, life in society, environment, spirituality. The main component of the concept of quality of life for the elderly is the availability of medical and social assistance, which provides for the implementation of treatment and prophylactic measures to maintain optimal physical, psychological and social comfort. A feature of the study of the quality of life of elderly patients is that in most cases the same tools are used as for other age groups. In general, the study of the quality of life of older people is of interest to modern science, and is of great practical importance. The data obtained can be used to select the optimal drugs and regimens for the treatment of patients, which would improve their quality of life. In addition, this would contribute to a more targeted use of material resources and an increase in the psychological and socio-economic condition of their family members. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.