Quality of life of elderly hypertensive and diabetics of the community: an observational study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: With the aging of the Brazilian population, there was a change in the morbidity profile, with a consequent increase in chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCD) OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of life of elderly diabetic and hypertensive in the community and characterize the profile of these elderly people. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 108 elderly subjects were investigated in a cross-sectional observational study. Data collection included questionnaires containing sociodemographic, anthropometric and self-reported morbidity data, as well as the evaluation of cognitive impairment through the Mini Mental State Examination and quality of life through the WHOQOL-OLD. Data were submitted to descriptive statistics, analysis of variance for comparison of means between groups and Pearson correlation to test the association of quality of life with the quantitative of CNCD. RESULTS: Mean age 70 ± 6, predominantly female (85.2%); low schooling (75.8%); low income (51.9%); living with relatives (80.6%) and married (46.3%). They were hypertensive (37.0%), diabetics (18.5%) and both (14.8%). Elderly non-CNCD had WHOQOL-OLD averages higher than the other groups with at least one CNCD, and there was a moderate and statistically significant negative association of the amount of CNCD and quality of life. CONCLUSION: CNCD negatively influence the quality of life of the elderly, and the elderly without chronic disease presented better quality of life when compared to the elderly with the presence of hypertension, diabetes or both, and the fear of dying was the variable that presented greater interference in the quality of life of the elderly.