A comparison of QoL profiles of vulnerable elders in Spain and the US

FORJAZ, M.J.; ARLING, G. ; RODRIGUEZ-BLAZQUEZ, C.; AYALA, A.; ABRAHAMSON, K.; FERNANDEZ-MAYORALAS, G.; ROJO-PEREZ, F.; PRIETO FLORES, M.E.

Congreso; Gerontological Society of America 68th Annual Scientific Meeting. Aging as a lifelong process; 2015

Quality of life (QoL) is influenced by cultural issues. We aimed at analyzing cross cultural differences between older adults placed in long term care in two countries: USA andSpain. Two 2007 cohorts were compared, one on adults older without dementia residing in nursing homes at Minnesota (n=7622), and the second across Spain (n=234). Descriptive analyses were performed based on comparable measures, linearly transformed into the same scale. The US sample presented higher proportion of females (70.5% vs. 65.4%) and more functional problems (11.1±7.7 using the ADL long form vs. 5.9±7.3 using theBarthel index) than the Spanish sample. Mean age (82.4±12.2 vs. 81.0±7.1), prevalence of depression (US: 50.7%; Spain: 49.1%) and QoL values (US: 8.3±1.3 using a QoL score form 7 domains; Spain: 7.2±1.5 using the Personal Wellbeing Index) were similar for both countries. Despite methodological differences, sociodemographic and QoLprofiles should be taken into account when comparing studies.