Do Determinants of Quality of Life Differ in Older People Living in the Community and Nursing Homes?

Małgorzata Pigłowska, Tomasz Kostka and Agnieszka Guligowska ()
Additional contact information
Małgorzata Pigłowska: Department of Geriatrics, Healthy Ageing Research Centre, Medical University of Łódź, Hallera 1 Square, 90-647 Łódź, Poland
Tomasz Kostka: Department of Geriatrics, Healthy Ageing Research Centre, Medical University of Łódź, Hallera 1 Square, 90-647 Łódź, Poland
Agnieszka Guligowska: Department of Geriatrics, Healthy Ageing Research Centre, Medical University of Łódź, Hallera 1 Square, 90-647 Łódź, Poland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: Objectives: The aim of the present study was to examine and compare the relationship between nutritional status, physical activity (PA) level, concomitant chronic diseases, and quality of life (QoL) in community-dwelling (CD) older people and nursing home (NH) residents. Material and Methods: One hundred NH residents aged 60 years and above and one hundred sex- and age-matched CD older adults were examined. The QoL was examined with the EuroQol-5D questionnaire. Nutritional status was assessed with the Mini Nutritional Assessment questionnaire (MNA), anthropometric measures, and bioimpedance analysis (BIA). The 7-Day Recall Questionnaire and the Stanford Usual Activity Questionnaire were performed to evaluate the PA energy expenditure level (PA-EE) and the health-related behaviours (PA-HRB), respectively. Results: CD subjects presented a significantly higher self-assessment in the VAS scale in comparison with NH residents (CD: 65.3 ± 19.4 vs. NH 58.2 ± 21.4; p < 0.05), but there were no differences within the five dimensions of QoL. In NH patients, the VAS scale was not correlated with any of the variables evaluating the nutritional status and body composition, while in the CD group correlated positively with MNA (rS = 0.36; p < 0.001), % of FFM (rS = 0.22; p < 0.05), body density (rS = 0.22; p < 0.05) and negatively with % of FM (rS = −0.22; p < 0.05). In an institutional environment, only concomitant diseases (mainly urinary incontinence) were found as independent determinants for QoL. In the community, independent determinants of QoL besides concomitant diseases (mainly ischaemic heart disease) were nutritional status or PA-HRB. Conclusions: Determinants of QoL are different depending on the living environment the older adults. Proper nutritional status and beneficial PA behaviours, are crucial for higher QoL of CD elderly, while for NH residents, the main determinants of QoL are chronic conditions.

Keywords: nutritional status; older people; physical activity; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/916/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/916/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:916-:d:1024871

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().