Background & Objectives: Aging and elderly population growth has been increased
in Iran. Quality of life of older persons is important as a consideration in
medical decisions and as a clinical outcome measure. Health related quality of
life (HRQoL) is not well understood in this group therefore we designed this
study to determine the quality of life among elderly populations of Tehran,
Iran.
Methods: This
cross-sectional study was conducted on a random sample of elderly people
selected from the elderly centers in Tehran. The Iranian version of short-form
Health survey (SF-36) and perceived social support questionnaires were employed
as standard tools.
Results: Overall,
400 elderly people with the mean age of 64.07(SD =4.49) took part in this
study. Of all participants, 298 individuals were women. The mean score of PCS
(Physical Component summery) and MCS (Mental Component Summery) were 64.62 (SD=
12.68) and 63.35 (SD=4/7) respectively. The results of this study revealed that
women compared to men had significantly higher scores in different dimensions
of health related quality of life as physical function, social function, body
pain and general health. Additionally, participants with lower body mass
indexes, higher education level, married elderly, healthy aged participants and
richer ones had higher scores of health related quality of life.
Conclusion: According
to this study, there was correlation between mean PCS and social support as
well as MCS and social support. Quality of life in female, individuals with
higher education and socioeconomic status were higher than male, persons with
lower education and socioeconomic status.
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