Association between living arrangement and quality of life for older adults in the community.
Alisson Fernandes Bolina, Mayssa da Conceição Araújo, Vanderlei José Haas and 1 others
PMID 33439953WHAT IT FOUND
Compared with living only with a spouse, older adults living alone or with children or other relatives reported lower quality of life in some areas, especially intimacy, autonomy and social participation, even after accounting for age, gender, health conditions and social support.
Key findings
01In the unadjusted comparison, older adults living only with their spouse had better quality-of-life scores in all domains and facets except death and dying.
02After adjustment for age, gender, number of morbidities and social support, living alone was associated with lower intimacy than living only with spouse.
03After adjustment for age, gender, number of morbidities and social support, living only with children was associated with lower functioning of the senses, autonomy and intimacy than living only with spouse.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that living arrangement causes better or worse quality of life. The sample came from one urban area in Minas Gerais, Brazil, so results may not apply to other regions or cultures. Older adults who were institutionalized, had uncorrected deafness, severe speech disorders, or possible cognitive decline were excluded, so it says little about those groups. The adjusted analysis did not show significant differences in the broad WHOQoL-Bref domains, only in some WHOQoL-Old facets.
Declared interests
Funding was from CNPq, Universal Grant # 407978/2016-0. No other conflicts of interest are stated.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that living only with a spouse causes better quality of life. The study is cross-sectional, so it can only show association, and after adjustment the differences were limited to specific quality-of-life facets rather than all domains.