Qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde e os fatores associados entre idosos longevos

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The increase of elderly proportion is a global event. Moreover, the older elderly is the group of elderly that grows faster. It is important to say that quality of life is an individual perception of his perspectives and expectations of life and, in this context, because of different experiences throughout elderly life that it is important to highlight the heterogeneity of the elderly population and the different repercussions in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), considering its cultural, demographic, social, psychological and biological reality. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the HRQoL and its associated factors among long-lived elderly people living in Brejo dos Santos/PB and in São Paulo/SP. MATERIAL AND METHODS: It was a cross-sectional study, of quantitative approach and primary data collection. A total of 245 elderly people aged 80 years and older participated in this study, including 116 residents in Brejo dos Santos/PB and 129 residents São Paulo/SP. The HRQoL was measured using the Short-Form 12 which consists of two components: the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and the Mental Component Summary (MCS), both classified in good or bad, based on their means. Independent variables approached the socioeconomic and demographic factors, the health situation, the familiar and social support, and the critical event in the last year. For the analysis, an initial multiple logistic regression model was performed for each component. Variables with p value less than or equal to 0.20 in the initial model were included in a final multiple logistic regression model with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: For both PCS and MCS, in Brejo dos Santos the major prevalence was good. The factors associated with bad PCS in the final model of Brejo dos Santos were: sex, age group, occurrence of falls in the last 12 months, sleep self-assessment, not having someone to resort to, not going out on the streets, streets conditions as impediment to go out and family members have been victims of violence. Among the elderly in São Paulo, the factors associated with bad PCS were: cognitive status, vision self-assessment, living alone, lacking company, feeling lonely, not going out on the streets, streets conditions as impediment to go out and familiar problems. The final model of bad MCS among Brejo dos Santos’ elderly showed association with the importance of religion by the elderly, cognitive status, subjective well-being, sleep self-assessment, number of medications, not going out on streets, and family members have been victims of violence. To the elderly who lives in São Paulo, the bad MCS was associated with fear of violence as an impediment to go out and death of spouse/partner. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The bad PCS and bad MCS were significantly associated with the socioeconomic and demographic factors, the health situation, the familiar and social support, and the critical event in the last year in both sample of elderly studied. Therefore, it was observed that it is needed specific actions to this age group considering their local, cultural, biological, psychological and social reality because this study contributes to the fact that the age population is heterogeneous.