Abstract
Background: Few studies have explored the determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying these factors may help implement appropriate policies to enhance HRQoL in the elderly. Therefore, we aimed to identify the predictors of physical and mental component summary (PCS and MCS) scores of HRQoL in selected six low- and middle-income Asian countries. Methods: We conducted an online survey of older people aged ≥55 years in six countries: Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Palestine, and Sri Lanka. The Stark QoL questionnaire was used to measure the PCS and MCS scores. Univariate and multiple variable analyses after adjusting for confounders were performed to identify the possible predictors of PCS and MCS. Results: A total of 1644 older people (69.1 ± 7.8 years, range 55–97 years, Female: 50.9%) responded to the survey. We documented age, country of residence, marital status, number of male children, current employment status, and health insurance, ability to pay household bills, frequency of family members visits and receiving support during COVID-19 pandemic predicted both PCS and MCS. However, gender, residence, and number of female children were associated with PCS only (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: Socio-demographic factors such as age, country of residence, marital status, number of male children, current employment status, health insurance, ability to pay household bills, frequency of family members visiting family members, and receiving support during the COVID-19 pandemic affecting both physical and mental quality of life. These results can guide formulating health care planning policies to enhance QoL during COVID-19 and future pandemics in the elderly.
Highlights
The global population of older people (60+ years) has increased from 382 million in 1980 to 962 million in 2017 and is further expected to rise to 2.1 billion by 2050 [1]
Upon multiple linear regression considering all the significant variables, the present study identified the age, country of residence, gender, place of residence, marital status, number of male and female children, present employment status, insurance, ability to pay household bills, frequency of family members visiting participants and receiving support during COVID-19 pandemic as the factors of Physical Component Summary (PCS) and age, country of residence, marital status, number of male children, present employment status, insurance, ability to pay household bills, frequency of family members visiting participants and receiving support during COVID-19 pandemic as the factors of Mental Component Summary (MCS)
Most of the published research on the assessment of quality of Life (QoL) after COVID-19 focuses on other groups, e.g., survivors of COVID-19 [21], health care professionals [22], and a relatively younger population and female gender [23]
Summary
The global population of older people (60+ years) has increased from 382 million in 1980 to 962 million in 2017 and is further expected to rise to 2.1 billion by 2050 [1]. Conclusion: Socio-demographic factors such as age, country of residence, marital status, number of male children, current employment status, health insurance, ability to pay household bills, frequency of family members visiting family members, and receiving support during the COVID-19 pandemic affecting both physical and mental quality of life. These results can guide formulating health care planning policies to enhance QoL during COVID-19 and future pandemics in the elderly
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