The competing effects of disease states on quality of life of the elderly: the case of urinary symptoms in men.
During the period 1993-1994 we conducted a study in Israel on a national-based sample of 960 men to examine the relationships between urinary symptoms and various domains of quality of life (QoL). Regression analyses were performed for each of the eight SF-36 domains, separately for the entire population and for those--without any co-morbidity. The dependent variable was the SF-36 domain scores. The independent variables included age, origin, education, employment and economic status, the degree of disturbance caused by urinary symptoms and the existence of co-morbidities. There was a significant difference between the entire population and the population without co-morbidities. In the entire population we found that severely bothersome urinary symptoms were related to scores on three QoL domains (social function, role-emotional and mental health) but there was no association with physical functioning and general health perceptions. In men without co-morbidity, urinary symptoms were substantially related to physical functioning and general health perceptions. These findings indicate that the relative weight of the impact of a symptom or disease on QoL domains is changed by the presence of other competing factors, such as co-morbidities or sociodemographic attributes.
Mozes
B
B
Center for the Study of Clinical Reasoning, Gertner Institute for Epidemiology and Health Policy Research, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. benjamin@post.tau.ac.il
Maor
Y
Y
Shmueli
A
A
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015897:Comorbidity; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000150:complications*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012380:Role; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*