Health-related quality of life and health utility for the institutional elderly in Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health utility in an institutional elderly population.


METHODS
Four hundred sixty-five elderly persons living in long-term care institutions in Taiwan were interviewed using Taiwan's abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), rating scale (RS) and the Time-Trade-Off (TTO) utility measurement.


RESULTS
The WHOQOL-BREF showed acceptable internal consistency (alpha range: 0.75-0.80 across domains) and validity. The sexual activity facet had the lowest response rate. Educational level, number of chronic diseases, physical performance, and number of caregivers had significant (p < 0.05) impacts on the domain scores of the WHOQOL-BREF. Physical performance had the strongest impact on the physical domain (R2 = 0.40) and accounted for significant percentages of the variance on the other three domains (R2 = 0.06-0.13). The mean RS score (score 0-100) was 61.3 +/- 16.2 (mean +/- SD). The mean TTO utility (score 0-1) was 0.92 +/- 0.22.


CONCLUSIONS
Results indicate that the WHOQOL-BREF, excepting the sexual activity item, is useful for evaluating HRQOL of conscious elderly in institutions. The validity of TTO utility for studying the institutionalized elderly needs further evaluation.
Lai
Kuan-Lang
KL
Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
Tzeng
Rong-Jye
RJ
Wang
Bing-Long
BL
Lee
Hong-Shen
HS
Amidon
Roger L
RL
Kao
Senyeong
S
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D013624:Taiwan