Calidad de vida asociada a nivel de dependencia en adultos mayores del cantón Guachapala 2023

Abstract

Background: aging produces physiological changes that lead to the decrease of physical and mental abilities, characterized by dependence, leading to a deterioration in the quality of life. Objective: to determine the quality of life associated with the level of dependence in the elderly of the canton Guachapala 2023. Methodology: cross-sectional analytical study, the sample consisted of 121 older adults. A sociodemographic data, World Health Organization quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL) -BREF, Barthel Index and Lawton and Brody Scale were applied. Statical analysis was performed with the SPSS v.28 program for Windows; the measures were presented with frequencies, percentages, arithmetic mean and standard deviation. Prevalence Ratio (PR) with its 95% confidence interval and the chi-square statistic (significant p<0.05) were used to measure the degree of association between quality of life and the level of dependency. Results: the sample group consisted of 57 % of women, 43.8% were over 80 years of age; 58.8% were married and 73.6% had primary school education. 53.7% had a medium-quality of life. Dependency for basic activities of daily Living showed that 53.7% were independent and for instrumental activities of daily Living, 59.5% were autonomous. Conclusions: There is an association between quality of life and dependence. Being older than 80 years, uneducated and dependent for basic and instrumental activities of daily Living, increases the possibility of low quality of life.