Quality of life and its influence factors among elderly with Alzheimer disease

Objective To study the quality of life(QOL)and its influencing factors among the elderly with Alzheimer's disease(AD)and to provide bases for clinical treatment of AD.Methods A hospital-based case-control study was conducted from January 2013 to December 2013 in Liyuan Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology,with 378 AD patients aged 60 years and over and 400 healthy elderly of same ages visiting the hospital for physical examination during the same period.The QOL of the participants was evaluated with several scales and multivariate linear stepwise regression model was used to analyze related factors of QOL.Results Compared to the controls,the AD patients had significantly lower total scores for Quality of Life-Alzermer's Disease(QOL-AD)(31.43±4.21 vs.44.56±4.18;t=39.675,P<0.001),Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSE)(15.82±7.65 vs.21.83±6.56,P<0.05),and Activity of Daily Life(ADL)(51.71±13.28 vs.65.68±14.18,P<0.05) but significantly higher scores for Neuropsychiatric Inventory(NPI)(31.14±7.27 vs.21.06±8.58)and Geriatric Depression Scale(GDS)(19.24±6.56 vs.14.53±6.18)(all P<0.05).Correlation analysis showed that MMSE score and QOL-AD total score were positively correlated(r=0.342,P=0.016)and GDS score and QOL-AD total score were reveresely correlated(r=-0.584,P<0.001).Mmultivariate linear regression analyses showed that the AD patients at older age,having less intimate relationship with the caregiver,living with a caregiver,having severe dementia,and with high GDS score had poor QOL.Conclusion Elderly AD patients had poor QOL and age,relationship with caregiver,living condition,severity of dementia,and GDS score are main impact factors of QOL in the elderly AD patients.