Quality of life and its influencing factors among rural elderly residents

Objective To examine the quality of life (QOL) and its influencing factors among rural elderly residents in Sichuan province.Methods With stratified cluster sampling, 704 rural elderly residents aged ≥ 60 years in Guangyuan municipality of Sichuan province were surveyed face-to-face with questionnaires.Structural equation model (SEM) was used in data analysis.Results The mean of QOL summary score was 59.66±22.08, with mean scores of 54.36±25.09 for physical component summary (PCS) and 64.96±23.49 for mental component summary (MCS).Compared to the residents of female, living alone, with chronic illness, and not taking part in physical exercise, those of male, living with family members, without chronic illness, and taking part in physical exercise had a better QOL (all P<0.05).There were significant differences in QOL among the residents with different age, education, and living conditions(P<0.05).The results of SEM showed that gender(-8.364, P<0.05), age(0.449, P<0.05), economic status(-8.815, P<0.05), social support(5.90, P<0.05), chronic illness(8.777, P<0.05), and physical exercise(-25.287, P<0.05) had direct or indirect influence on the QOL of the residents(all P<0.05).Conclusion The QOL of rural elderly residents in Guangyuan municipality of Sichuan province was poor and influenced by gender, age, economic status, social support, chronic illness conditions, and other factors.