Quality of life and its influencing factors among the elderly with different endowment patterns in Zhengzhou city

Objective To examine the effects and related factors of different endowment patterns on the quality of life among the elderly in Zhengzhou city.Methods A multi-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 1 690 residents aged 60 years or above and receiving three types of endowment services(752 persons with traditional family support,349 persons with community-based home service,and 529 persons with residential home placement) from five urban areas of Zhengzhou for a questionnaire survey with the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey(SF-36).Results There were significant differences in the scores of quality of life among the elderly with different endowment patterns for physical functioning,role-physical,bodily pain,general health,social functioning,role-emotional,and total score(P=0.0000 for all).The results of correlation analyses showed that there were positive correlations between total SF-36 score and total living areas and amount of pension for the eldely with family endowment;the age,education level,occupation,and the comorbidities of chronic diseases were inversely correlated to the total score of SF-36 for the elderly with family endowment(P<0.05 for all).Among the elderly with institution endowment,the total score of SF-36 was positively correlated with education and social-economic conditions and inversely correlated with age and household living area(P<0.05 for all).For the eldely with community endowment,the SF-36 total score was positively related to education and social-economic conditions and inversely related to age(P<0.05 for all).Conclusion The elderly in Zhenzhou city with different endowment patterns have different levels of quality of life and their quality of life is related to gender,age,education,occupation history,total household living area,amount of pension,and comorbities of chronic diseases.