Quality of life of old people living in the community

Abstract

We have reported an annual improvement in self-care independence of old people living in a rural Japanese town, Kahoku, from 1991 to 1995. 1 Matsubayashi K Okumiya K Wada T Osaki Y Doi Y Ozawa T Secular improvement in self-care independence of old people living in community in Kahoku, Japan. Lancet. 1996; 347: 60 Summary Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (54) Google Scholar The proportion of the independent elderly aged 65 years or more in this community increased from 1991 to 1997. However, not only independence in activities of daily living (ADL) but also subjective quality of live (QOL) of the elderly themselves is important. To address the annual trend in subjective QOL of the community-living elderly, since 1992 we have conducted each year an assessment of QOL, especially subjective healthiness and life satisfaction, with validated self-reported visual analogue scale (VAS). 2 Morrison DP The Crichton Visual Analogue Scale for the assessment of behaviour in the elderly. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1983; 68: 408-413 Crossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar The VAS questionnaire ended with a summing-up graph in the form of a 100 mm bar, graded with subjectively worst condition on the left and best one on the right. The subject was asked to mark on 100 mm bar how his condition was. We defined the distance (mm) from the left to the marked position as the score of VAS (0–100), with high scores indicating high QOL. We investigated the annual trend in the mean of VAS scores of subjective healthiness and life satisfaction as well as independent rate in ADL of community-living elderly people from 1992 to 1997. The numbers interviewed in 1992-97 were 1578, 1618, 1643, 1710, 1770, and 1873, these numbers being, respectively, 90%, 91%, 91%, 92%, 90%, and 91% of Kahoku residents aged 65 years or more.