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Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors
BACKGROUND: With a rapidly ageing population and increasing life expectancy, programs directed at improving the mental health and quality of life (QOL) of older persons are extremely important. This issue may be particularly relevant in the aged-care residential sector, where very high rates of depr...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
BioMed Central
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3852717/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24103220 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-249 |
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author | Atkins, Joanna Naismith, Sharon L Luscombe, Georgina M Hickie, Ian B |
author_facet | Atkins, Joanna Naismith, Sharon L Luscombe, Georgina M Hickie, Ian B |
author_sort | Atkins, Joanna |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: With a rapidly ageing population and increasing life expectancy, programs directed at improving the mental health and quality of life (QOL) of older persons are extremely important. This issue may be particularly relevant in the aged-care residential sector, where very high rates of depression and poor QOL are evident. This study aims to investigate the fixed and modifiable risk factors of psychological distress and QOL in a cohort of Australians aged 60 and over living in residential and community settings. METHODS: The study examined the relationship between demographic, health and lifestyle factors and the outcome variables of self-reported QOL and psychological distress (K10 scores) based on data from 626 Australians aged 60 and over from the 45 and Up Study dataset. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses (performed on a subset of 496) examined risk factors related to psychological distress and QOL adjusting for age and residential status. RESULTS: Significant psychological distress was experienced by 15% of the residential sample and 7% of the community sample and in multivariate analyses was predicted by older age, more functional limitations, more time spent sleeping and lower levels of social support (accounting for 18% of the variance). Poorer QOL was predicted by more functional limitations and greater levels of psychological distress. Together these variables accounted for 35% of the variance in QOL ratings. CONCLUSIONS: While psychological distress was more common in residential settings, programs targeting modifiable risk factors have the potential to improve QOL and reduce psychological distress in older persons living in both residential and community settings. In particular, promoting health and mobility, optimising sleep-wake cycles and increasing social support may reduce levels of psychological distress and improve QOL. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3852717 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-38527172013-12-06 Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors Atkins, Joanna Naismith, Sharon L Luscombe, Georgina M Hickie, Ian B BMC Psychiatry Research Article BACKGROUND: With a rapidly ageing population and increasing life expectancy, programs directed at improving the mental health and quality of life (QOL) of older persons are extremely important. This issue may be particularly relevant in the aged-care residential sector, where very high rates of depression and poor QOL are evident. This study aims to investigate the fixed and modifiable risk factors of psychological distress and QOL in a cohort of Australians aged 60 and over living in residential and community settings. METHODS: The study examined the relationship between demographic, health and lifestyle factors and the outcome variables of self-reported QOL and psychological distress (K10 scores) based on data from 626 Australians aged 60 and over from the 45 and Up Study dataset. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses (performed on a subset of 496) examined risk factors related to psychological distress and QOL adjusting for age and residential status. RESULTS: Significant psychological distress was experienced by 15% of the residential sample and 7% of the community sample and in multivariate analyses was predicted by older age, more functional limitations, more time spent sleeping and lower levels of social support (accounting for 18% of the variance). Poorer QOL was predicted by more functional limitations and greater levels of psychological distress. Together these variables accounted for 35% of the variance in QOL ratings. CONCLUSIONS: While psychological distress was more common in residential settings, programs targeting modifiable risk factors have the potential to improve QOL and reduce psychological distress in older persons living in both residential and community settings. In particular, promoting health and mobility, optimising sleep-wake cycles and increasing social support may reduce levels of psychological distress and improve QOL. BioMed Central 2013-10-08 /pmc/articles/PMC3852717/ /pubmed/24103220 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-249 Text en Copyright © 2013 Atkins et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Atkins, Joanna Naismith, Sharon L Luscombe, Georgina M Hickie, Ian B Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
title | Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
title_full | Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
title_fullStr | Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
title_full_unstemmed | Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
title_short | Psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
title_sort | psychological distress and quality of life in older persons: relative contributions of fixed and modifiable risk factors |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3852717/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24103220 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-249 |
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