Abstract
BackgroundPopulation aging is an inevitable trend and previous studies have showed the relationship between social health related factors and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in the elderly. The objective of this study is to investigate the association of social health status with HR-QOL among community-dwelling elderly in Zhejiang.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was based on community-dwelling elderly individuals from July 2018 to September 2018 in Zhejiang, China. HR-QOL was measured by the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12). Social health status was estimated by the long-form of the Social Health Scale for the Elderly (SHSE-L) and classified into three categories (poor, moderate and good). Multivariable linear regression models were conducted to evaluate the association between social health status and HR-QOL (PCS, MCS and SF-12 total score).ResultsA total of 2952 elderly participants were included in this study. The mean age was 70.68 ± 7.75 years (mean ± SD); of the eligible participants, more than half (50.4%) were females; the mean scores were 48.10 ± 8.49, 47.70 ± 7.09 and 47.90 ± 5.86 for PCS, MCS and SF-12 total score, separately. Results from the multivariable models showed that social health status was positively related to HR-QOL after adjusting for covariates. Compared with individuals with a poor social health status, those who had a moderate or good social health status were more likely to report better HR-QOL (for moderate social health status: β = 1.90(95%CI: 1.09, 2.71) for PCS, β = 1.78(1.08, 2.48) for MCS, β = 1.84(1.29, 2.39) for SF-12 total score; for good social health status: β = 3.29(2.24, 4.34) for PCS, β = 3.10(2.12, 4.01) for MCS, β = 3.20(2.48, 3.91) for SF-12 total score).ConclusionIn our study, we found that social health status was positively associated with HR-QOL among the elderly in Zhejiang. Our findings could provide valuable information for decision-makers to develop interventions to improve the HR-QOL of the elderly.
Highlights
Population aging is an inevitable trend and previous studies have showed the relationship between social health related factors and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in the elderly
A total of 3161 elderly participants were recruited in our study, and we excluded 15 participants with incorrect information, 81 participants aged < 60 years and 113 participants with incomplete information of The 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12), and a total of 2952 participants were included in the final analysis
Compared with the elderly with a poor social health status, those who had a better social health status were more likely to report higher scores of Physical Component Summary (PCS), Mental Component Summary (MCS) and SF-12 total score, after adjusting for potential covariates. These findings suggest that social health status may be considered as a comprehensive indicator of HR-QOL and may help to develop interventions to improve the quality of life in the elderly
Summary
Population aging is an inevitable trend and previous studies have showed the relationship between social health related factors and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in the elderly. The objective of this study is to investigate the association of social health status with HR-QOL among community-dwelling elderly in Zhejiang. HR-QOL is a common approach to the conceptualization of the broader concept of quality of life (QOL). It has been defined as: “the impact of perceived health on an individual’s ability to live a fulfilling life” [4]. Social health (such as social support and social relationship) may affect health-related quality of life in the elderly
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