Gerontology & Geriatric Research

Quality of life based on level of physical activity among elderly residents of urban and rural areas

9^th International Conference on Geriatrics, Gerontology & Elderly Care

September 03-04, 2019 | Berlin, Germany

Esmayel E M, Mousa M M and Abdallah M A

Zagazig University, Egypt

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Gerontol Geriatr Res

Abstract:

Introduction: The quality of life (QoL) describes the multidimensional self-perceived well-being of a person, which is an important diabetes outcome. Diabetes is a major cause of disease burden in the elderly, and it could affect both health and quality of life (QOL). Results of studies that assessed QoL in elderly diabetics are few and not consistent. Also, the association between glycemic control and QoL is controversial. So this study was constructed to unravel this context.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 80 elderly (??? 65 years old) type 2 diabetics half of them were well controlled (HbA1C <7.5 %) and the other half were poorly controlled (HbA1C ??? 7.5%). The study included also 40 non diabetic elderly, matched for age, gender educational and socioeconomic status, as control group. The quality of life was assessed using the short form -36 questionnaire which has two main physical and mental dimensions, with scores ranging from 0 to 100, with the highest scores indicating better QoL.

Results: Both the physical and mental dimensions scores of SF-36 tool were significantly decreased in both well controlled and poorly controlled elderly diabetics, both compared to non-diabetics (p <0.001). Poorly controlled diabetics had the worst score. Significant negative correlations were noticed between age, duration of diabetes, HbA1c and scores of all domains of SF-36 tool (p <0.001).

Conclusions: Elderly diabetics had poor QoL compared to non-diabetics. Poor glycemic control was associated with poor QoL. Older age and long duration of diabetes had negative impact on QoL. Further longitudinal studies are needed to assess the effect of improving glycemic status on QoL of elderly diabetics.