Physical and psychological states interfere with health-related quality of life of institutionalized elderly: a cross-sectional study

• Published in: BMC geriatrics Vol. 20; no. 1; p. 386
• Main Authors: Silva E Farias, Ilky Pollansky, Montenegro, Luiza de Almeida Souto, Wanderley, Rayssa Lucena, de Pontes, Jannerson Cesar Xavier, Pereira, Antonio Carlos, de Almeida, Leopoldina de Fátima Dantas, Cavalcanti, Yuri Wanderley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 06-10-2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Aged; Analysis; Brazil; Cognitive ability; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease; Frail Elderly; Frailty; Geriatrics; Health; Humans; Illiteracy; Institutionalization; Life expectancy; Long term health care; Mental depression; Nutrition; Nutritional status; Older people; Oral hygiene; Population; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Self image; Sociodemographics; Spacetime; Statistical analysis; Variables; Brazil; United States > US; Aged; Frail elderly; Institutionalization; Quality of life
• ISSN: 1471-2318; 1471-2318
• DOI: 10.1186/s12877-020-01791-6

Nursing home elders experience many problems that may influence their quality of life, in example of cognitive, mental, nutritional and physical disabilities. Concerning about elders' wellbeing may help them living with dignity. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of institutionalized elders in a capital city of Brazilian Northeast.
A cross-sectional study was conducted with 125 institutionalized elders living in the metropolitan region of João Pessoa (Brazil). The following variables were tested regarding their association with the elders' HRQoL: Socio-demographic characteristics; Performance of daily-living activities, Frailty status, Cognitive status, Nutritional status, Self-perception of oral health and Depression status. Hierarchical multiple Poisson loglinear and binary logistic regressions analyses were performed in order to assess the impact of each independent variable on HRQoL, considering a significance level of 5%.
The median of HRQoL of institutionalized elders was 64. Multivariate regression models showed that retirement, frailty and depression were statistically associated with poor HRQoL (p < 0.05). Not-frail elderly and less depressed were more likely to present higher HRQoL scores.
Lower HRQoL of institutionalized elderly is associated with decline of physical and psychological states. Institutions should be advised to plan and implement actions that would improve the HRQoL of institutionalized elderly.