Quality of life among elderly residents in the Gaza Strip: a community-based study

BACKGROUND: In Palestine, persons older than 60 years of age comprise 4.6% of the population in this decade and will remain relatively stable until the year 2020, when it is expected to begin to rise. The quality of life (QoL), which reflects well-being and health status, is under-reported in this vulnerable group in the Gaza Strip. OBJECTIVE: Determine QoL and associated factors in persons aged older than 60 years. DESIGN: A community-based cross-sectional study. SETTING: Five Gaza Strip governorates. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Subjects were selected by convenience sampling. We used the validated Arabic WHOQOL-BREF to assess QoL and used descriptive, univariate and multivariate methods to analyze the data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: QoL, overall satisfaction with health and factors associated with good QoL. SAMPLE SIZE: 235 community-dwelling elderly. RESULTS: The response rate was 85.5% (201/235). Mean age (SD) was 69 (7.95) years old and females accounted for 57.7% (116/201) of the sample. Almost half (44.2%, 90/201) of the elderly scored in the category of good QoL. The mean (SD) for overall QoL and perceived satisfaction with health was 3.3 (1.1) and 3.4 (1.0), respectively, on a 5-point Likert scale. The social relationship domain had the highest QoL score (65.4 [15.3]), whereas physical and environmental domains received equally lower scores (60.5 [15.2] and 60.5 [12.5] respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that factors associated with good QoL were higher education (OR: 3.1, CI 95%: 1.03–9.4) and perceived high satisfaction with health (OR: 3.6, CI 95%: 1.8–7.3). CONCLUSION: More years of education and higher satisfaction with health were associated with a better perception of QoL. Interventions should be focused more on physical and environmental aspects in the life of elderly persons. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design, use of convenience sample and some possibly important factors not studied.