title: Assessing the quality of life in elderly people and related factors in tabriz, iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Elderly people may suffer from the multiple health disorders due to the vulnerability for many physical and mental disturbances. Quality of life in elderly population can be affected by many environmental factors. The aim of this study was aimed to examine the quality of life in elderly people in Tabriz, Iran in 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was carried out on 184 elderly people (male=97; female=87) with age ≥ 60 years. The participants surveyed in this study were elderly people who were living in the community and come voluntarily to the daily care centers. Validated Persian self-reported version of World Health Organization Quality of Life-BRIEF (WHOQOL-BRIEF) questionnaire including 26 broad and comprehensive questions were used to determine the quality of life in elderly people. Independent t-test and Pearson correlation were used to compare differences and correlation between the total score of quality of life and influential factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total score the quality of life in both genders was 90.75 (13.37) (range between 26-130). Male elderly had slightly high score in the quality of life; however, these differences were not significant. A significant difference was observed between having cardiovascular diseases, respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, hearing and visual impairments with total score in the quality of life. Also, there was no significant difference between gender and age variables with total score in the quality of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Policies and programs should be considered for improving the quality of life. Future studies are needed for assessing other influential factors on the quality of life in elderly population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Student's Research Committee, Students Basij of Moje Danish, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Yaser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Khaje-Bishak
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Student's Research Committee, Students Basij of Moje Danish, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Laleh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Payahoo
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Bahram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pourghasem
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asghari Jafarabadi
keywords: Elderly; Male; Quality of life; Vision disorders