Abstract
Except in the case of depression, there are few studies that analyze mental health variables related to quality of life (QoL) in people over 65 years of age. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between QoL and the following variables: sociodemographic and physical and mental health of people over 65 years of age. The sample was randomly selected and consists of men and women between 65 and 84 years of age (N = 555) from the Community of Madrid. Mental disorders were evaluated with the CIDI65+ interview and QoL with the WHOQoL-BREF scale. Means, ANOVA and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Women have worse QoL than men and QoL worsens with age. The regression model for the dependent variable “WHOQoL BREF Scale” explains 41.43% of the variance (R2 = 0.413). The variables that have the greatest impact on QoL are as follows: a greater number of physical and psychological symptoms, experiencing financial difficulties and the presence of a psychological disorder, while continuing to work has a positive effect on QoL. Physical and mental disorders have a similar impact on QoL. The presence of a greater number of psychological symptoms (without necessarily fulfilling the criteria of a mental disorder) is a predictive variable of worse QoL. Mental health has a burden on the QoL of people over 65 years of age that is as powerful as physical health.
Highlights
The WHO defines quality of life (QoL) as “an individual’s perception of his or her place in the world, the cultural context and value system in which he or she lives, and all of this in relation to his or her expectations, norms and concerns
This study aims to fill the research gap about the relationship of any kind of mental disorder with QoL, using a standardized diagnostic interview of mental health adapted to people over 65 years old
It is observed that women score higher than men on the two items related to personal relationships: item 5—“How satisfied are you with your personal relationships?”, and item 6—“How satisfied are you with the support you get from your friends?” (4.19 and 4.05 in women vs. 4.06 and 3.87 in men), and score significantly higher than men on the Social relations subscale (77.94 in women vs. 74.11 in men)
Summary
The WHO defines quality of life (QoL) as “an individual’s perception of his or her place in the world, the cultural context and value system in which he or she lives, and all of this in relation to his or her expectations, norms and concerns. It is a broad concept that is influenced in a complex way by the physical health of the subject, his psychological state, level of independence, social relations, and relationship with the essential elements of his environment” [1]. QoL usually appears as a multidimensional construct that includes medical as well as psychological and socio-economic factors [2]. The WHO’s Quality of Life group [3] establishes the existence of six areas or domains of quality of life: physical aspects (which would include facets such as pain, tiredness and sleep), psychological aspects (such as self-esteem, concentration and body image), the degree of independence (with facets such as mobility, work capacity or activities of daily life), social relations (social support, personal relations, etc.), the environment (financial resources, transport, health and social care, etc.). Public Health 2020, 17, 8528; doi:10.3390/ijerph17228528 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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