Health-related quality of life and related factors among a sample of older people with cognitive impairment.
Line Christiansen, Johan Sanmartin Berglund, Catharina Lindberg and 2 others
PMID 31367408WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with mild cognitive impairment self-reported quality of life close to reference values for a general Swedish geriatric population.
Low physical quality of life was linked to dependence in daily activities, pain and informal care; low mental quality of life was linked to loneliness.
Key findings
01Low physical HRQoL was associated with receiving informal care, dependency in ADL and moderate to severe pain.
02Low mental HRQoL was associated with loneliness.
03Mean SF-12 physical and mental scores were close to reference values for a general Swedish geriatric population.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a cross-sectional analysis, so it cannot show that informal care, ADL dependency, pain or loneliness caused lower HRQoL. Participants had cognitive impairment and completed self-reported HRQoL measures, which may affect accuracy. Of 247 participants, 68 did not complete SF-12 and 10 did not complete EQ-5D; those who did not complete SF-12 were older, and those who did not complete EQ-5D were younger. No validated cut-points for older adults with cognitive impairment were available, so low and high HRQoL were defined using the 25th percentile of this sample. The EQ-5D index used a UK tariff because no Swedish value set was available.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing pain, dependence or loneliness will raise quality of life. This cross-sectional study only found associations at one time point, and participants self-reported measures while having cognitive impairment.