Comparing quality of life among rural and urban elderly outpatients

The purpose of this study was to compare quality of life among rural and urban elderly outpatients attending the Imam Sajjad Hospital of Shahryar during 2010-2011.

This was a cross-sectional study of a sample of 203 rural and urban elderly outpatients. HRQoL was measured using the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Data were analyzed using student t-test، ANOVA، and regression analysis in order to indicate the major quality of life determinants.

In a step-wise regression analysis gender، age and employment had significant effect on physical functioning. For role physical، education; for bodily pain، education، gender and living area; for general health، gender and employment; for vitality، employment; for social functioning، employment; for role emotional، living area; and for mental health، gender had a significant effect on quality of life.

Overall the findings suggest that the urban and rural environment do not have significant effect on health-related quality of life.