ارتباط بین افسردگی و اضطراب مرگ با کیفیت زندگی سالمندان

Background & Aim: Quality of life indicates the level of individual’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the different aspects of life and has specific characteristics at each stage of life. The quality of life in the elderly may be influenced by death anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship of depression and death anxiety to the quality of life among the elderly population. Methods & Materials: This study was a cross-sectional research conducted on 294 elderly living in Saghez in 2016. Samples were selected through convenience sampling. The 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Death Anxiety Scale were used to gather the data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression by Enter method. The level of significance was considered P<0.05. Results: The mean (and standard deviation) scores for the quality of life, depression and death anxiety among the studied elderly were respectively 33.22±7.81, 4.92±3.82 and 33.63±7.40. There was a significant relationship between depression and the quality of life (P<0.0001) but there was no significant relationship between the quality of life and death anxiety. Conclusion: Depression is a common problem among the elderly and related to their quality of life. When assessing the quality of life in the elderly, paying attention to their depression is necessary. Appropriate diagnosis and management of depression can improve the quality of life in the elderly.