title: Demographic and psychosocial correlates of quality of life in the elderly from a cross-cultural perspective.
abstract: We compared the quality of life (QOL) of older adults in a post-communist country (the Czech Republic) with those living in traditional western democracies. The sample comprised 1981 respondents aged 60+ (from 60 to 99). The subjective QOL was measured using the WHOQOL-BREF and the add-on module for older adults, the WHOQOL-OLD. The findings showed higher score of depressive symptoms measured by the GDS scale and lower QOL in Czech sample as compared to other centres. Analyses of factors related to QOL of older adults showed similar patterns for the Czech sample and other centres with depression emerging as the strongest determinant of reduced QOL Findings also underline that subjective quality of life measurement reflects cross-country differences in accordance with objective indicators of national prosperity.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Centre, Prague, Czech Republic. dragomirecka@pcp.lf3.cuni.cz
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dragomirecká
authors.forename: Jitka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartonová
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eisemann
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalfoss
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kilian
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martiny
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: von Steinbüchel
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018153:Czech Republic; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012922:Social Change; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires