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The associated factors for the quality of life among Chinese rural elderly: 1-year follow-up study

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 30 January 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Aim

The aim of this study was to explore the quality of life (QOL) and its associated factors among Chinese rural elderly.

Subjects and methods

Analyses based on data from a longitudinal study, performed in Dangtu, a township in Anhui province. In all, 945 elderly people completed the two surveys in 2014–2016. Generalized estimating equations (GEEs) was used to explore the association between multiple factors and QOL of the elderly.

Results

The elderly had higher World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) total score and scores for each domain at the second survey than the baseline. The results of GEEs showed that age, education level, economic status, drinking status and social support were positively associated with QOL of the elderly. However, Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) score and Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADLs) score were negatively associated with QOL of the elderly. In addition, gender was only associated with physical and environmental domains. Similarly, marital status was only associated with psychological and environmental domains. Household cohabitants was associated with social and environmental domains. Smoking status and diabetes were only associated with physical domain. Hypertension and stroke were associated with physical and psychological domains. Heart disease was associated with physical and social domains. Significant trends of WHOQOL-BREF total score were observed for the variables of age, education level, economic status, and ADLs score.

Conclusion

Multiple factors can affect the QOL of the elderly in rural China. These findings can provide guidance aimed at improving their QOL.

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Change history

  • 30 January 2018

    The journal had been advised to revise the title so that Clarivate Analytics can try to count the citations more accurately. There’s been confusion due to the existence of another journal with the same name.

Abbreviations

QOL:

Quality of life

GEEs:

Generalized estimating equations

WHOQOL-BREF:

World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Brief Version

GDS-15:

Geriatric Depression Scale-15

SSRS:

The Social Support Rating Scale

ADLs:

Activity of Daily Living Scale

OR:

Odds ratio

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all participants and the persons who helped us in conduction of the research.

Funding

This study was funded by grants from the Talent Program of the Higher Education Revitalization Plan of Anhui Province, China, 2013 and the Major Program of the Social Science Foundation of Anhui Province, China, 2014 (SK2014ZD037).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China

    Bao Dong, Jie Li, Dongdong Zhao, Dandan Yu, Qiongqiong Ren & Yehuan Sun

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230032, China

    Yehuan Sun

Authors
  1. Bao Dong
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  2. Jie Li
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  3. Dongdong Zhao
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  4. Dandan Yu
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  5. Qiongqiong Ren
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  6. Yehuan Sun
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yehuan Sun.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Committee of Anhui Medical University (including study design and procedures) and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for being included in the study.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: Due to the existence of another journal with the same name, the Publisher has added a subtitle, “From Theory to Practice.” Effective as of January 2018, the new title of this Journal is Journal of Public Health: From Theory to Practice.

A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0893-1.

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Dong, B., Li, J., Zhao, D. et al. The associated factors for the quality of life among Chinese rural elderly: 1-year follow-up study. J Public Health 26, 185–193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0852-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-017-0852-x

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