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Health-related quality of life and health utility for the institutional elderly in Taiwan

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Abstract

Objective: To explore the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and health utility in an institutional elderly population. Methods: Four hundred sixty-five elderly persons living in long-term care institutions in Taiwan were interviewed using Taiwan’s abbreviated version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), rating scale (RS) and the Time-Trade-Off (TTO) utility measurement. Results: The WHOQOL-BREF showed acceptable internal consistency (α range: 0.75–0.80 across domains) and validity. The sexual activity facet had the lowest response rate. Educational level, number of chronic diseases, physical performance, and number of caregivers had significant (p < 0.05) impacts on the domain scores of the WHOQOL-BREF. Physical performance had the strongest impact on the physical domain (R2=0.40) and accounted for significant percentages of the variance on the other three domains (R2=0.06–0.13). The mean RS score (score 0–100) was 61.3 ± 16.2 (mean ± SD). The mean TTO utility (score 0–1) was 0.92 ± 0.22. Conclusions: Results indicate that the WHOQOL-BREF, excepting the sexual activity item, is useful for evaluating HRQOL of conscious elderly in institutions. The validity of TTO utility for studying the institutionalized elderly needs further evaluation.

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Abbreviations

ECOG:

Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group

HRQOL:

health-related quality of life

RS:

rating scale

SD:

standard deviation

TTO:

time-trade-off

WHOQOL-BREF:

brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan

    Kuan-Lang Lai

  2. Department of Education and Training, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Rong-Jye Tzeng

  3. Department of Research, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan

    Bing-Long Wang

  4. Department of Public Health, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Hong-Shen Lee

  5. Department of Health Services Policy & Management, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, USA

    Roger L. Amidon

  6. School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, P.O. Box 90048-509, Taipei, 114, Taiwan

    Senyeong Kao

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  1. Kuan-Lang Lai
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Correspondence to Senyeong Kao.

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Lai, KL., Tzeng, RJ., Wang, BL. et al. Health-related quality of life and health utility for the institutional elderly in Taiwan. Qual Life Res 14, 1169–1180 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-004-3061-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-004-3061-3

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