Self-perceived health and quality of life by activity status in community-dwelling older adults

PINO, L.; GONZÁLEZ-VÉLEZ, A.E.; PRIETO FLORES, M.E.; AYALA, A.; FERNANDEZ-MAYORALAS, G.; ROJO-PEREZ, F.; MARTINEZ-MARTIN, P.; FORJAZ, M.J.

GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014

1444-1586

Aim: The present study aimed at analyzing whether activity status is associated with self-perceived health status andquality of life (QoL) in community-dwelling older adults.Methods: We used a cross-sectional design based on a semi-structured QoL questionnaire in a representativesample of 1106 community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and older in Spain. Logistic regression models were usedto explain the association of activity status with self-perceived health status and QoL, assessed by means of theEQ-5D-3L index, controlling for the influence of sociodemographic, social and support network variables, and healthindicators.Results: The mean age ± standard deviation was 72.1 ± 7.8 years. For the activity status, 8.5% were working people,53.7% retirees, 30.6% homemakers and 7.2% pensioners. All homemakers and 93.6% pensioners were women. Inthe model to assess perceived health status, when controlling for sociodemographic, social and support networkvariables, we found that working people rated their health better than the retired group. In this model, pensionersrated their health status worst, whereas homemakers did not show any significant difference compared with theretired group. However, there were no differences in the model of QoL by activity status.Conclusion: Activity status was associated with self-perceived health status, but not with QoL. This study drawsattention to the need of considering the activity of older adults for actions aimed at maintaining and improving their health.