State of Health and Quality of Life of Women at Advanced Age

BACKGROUND Evaluation of the state of health, quality of life, and relationship between the level of the quality of life and health status in a group of women at advanced age (90 and more years) in Poland. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study was conducted in 2014 in an all-Polish sample of 870 women aged 90 and over. The research instruments were: the author's questionnaire, and standardized tests: Katz index of independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Abbreviated Mental Test Score (AMTS), The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) - BREF. The results of the study were statistically analyzed using significant t test for mean and regression analysis. RESULTS The majority of women at advanced age suffered from chronic pain (76%) and such major geriatric problems as hypoacusis (81%), visual disturbances (69%) and urinary incontinence (60%), the minority - fall and fainting (39%) as well as stool incontinence (17%), severe functional and cognitive impairment (24% and 10% respectively). Women at advanced age assessed positively for overall quality of life (mean 3.3 on 1-5 scale), social relationships (3.5) and environment (3.2), but negatively - general, physical and psychological health (2.7, 2.7 and 2.8 respectively). The presence of chronic pain and major geriatric problems: urinary and stool incontinences, falls and fainting, visual disturbances and hypoacusis significantly decreases overall quality of life, general, physical and psychological health, social relationships and environment of women at advanced age. Overall quality of life, general, physical and psychological health, social relationships and environment correlate to functional and cognitive impairments of women at advanced age. CONCLUSIONS Quality of life of women at advanced age decreased if chronic pain, major geriatric problems as well as functional and cognitive impairments occur.