Quality of Life among the Elderly under the Protection of Health and Treatment Centers in Isfahan Province, Iran, and its Relationship with Depression and Body Mass Index

Increasing the life expectancy was the major issue of public health during the 20th century, while living with better quality is the goal of 21th century. Psychological and physical situations are important factors that affect quality of life in elderly. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the quality of life among the elderly and its relationship with depression and body mass index (BMI) in Isfahan province, Iran.
A total of 637 elderly were included in this analytical observational study using a random and multistage cluster sampling method. Quality of life and depression scores were collected using Geriatric Depressions Scale (GDS) and Quality of Life Short Form-36 (SF-36) Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using t, one-way ANOVA, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients statistical tests.
Findings: The mean score of quality of life was 54.64 ± 20.60. Quality of life and some of its dimensions had a direct relationship with lower age, being male and high level of education. We found no significant correlation between the depression score and quality of life or its dimensions. In addition, assessment of the correlation between body mass index and quality of life showed that body mass index had significant negative relationship only with physical functioning among all of the dimensions.
Results of the present study showed that lower quality of life is associated with increasing of the age, being female and low level of education. Furthermore, we found no relationship between the dimensions of quality of life and depression that might be due to the effects of several variables on quality of life among elderly.