Authors: Oriana Fusco Alessandro Ferrini Michaela Santoro Maria Rita Lo Monaco Giovanni Gambassi Matteo Cesari
Publish Date: 2013/07/31
Volume: 24, Issue: 1, Pages: 68-73
Abstract
Background and aims Physical function and quality of life represent two major components of multidimensional evaluation in older people The aim of the study was to verify which specific physical function measure is a more important predictor of quality of life in these individuals Methods Data are from 73 communitydwelling older persons attending a geriatric cardiovascular clinic Linear regressions and analyses of covariance were performed to explore the relationships between physical function measures 4meter walking test 4mWS Short Physical Performance Battery SPPB Activities of Daily Living ADL and Instrumental ADL IADL and quality of life assessed using the European Quality of Life EuroQoL instrument To provide fair comparisons across all the physical function measures results were provided according to their increase in standard deviation SD Results The mean age of the sample population women 52 was 776 SD=83 years old Given significant gender interactions between physical function and quality of life separate analyses were conducted for men and women In women all physical function measures were significantly associated with quality of life measures in unadjusted models pvalues005 The EuroQoL visual analogic scale maintained its significant associations with SPPB ADL and IADL even after adjustment for potential confounders In men no physical function measure was consistently associated with quality of life in the fullyadjusted models Genderspecific differences in the perception of quality of life were reported for disabilities in specific IADL tasks Conclusions Physical function is associated with quality of life in older persons In particular disabilities in some specific IADL tasks seem to be especially perceived by women as undermining their quality of life The use of the IADL scale in men may not be as reliable as in women
Keywords: