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Quality of life attenuates age-related decline in functional status of older adults

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Abstract

Purpose

In the present study, we aimed to examine the total and moderating effects of needs-satisfaction-driven quality-of-life (QoL) measure on age-related change in functional status.

Methods

Participants in the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (N = 18,781 at Wave 1) completed a measure of QoL (CASP-12) at baseline and reported their functional status across subsequent three waves using activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and functional limitation indices.

Results

Growth-curve model estimates revealed that aged individuals with lower QoL scores at baseline had a steeper increase in disability deficits accumulation and functional limitation progression than their counterparts with a higher sense of QoL. The effects were more pronounced in ADL and IADL disability scales in which QoL moderated both linear and quadratic age-related changes.

Conclusions

Higher QoL attenuates processes of functional decline in late adulthood. Practitioners may seek strategies for improving and enhancing patients’ QoL, as its salutary effects diffuse beyond psychological experience and include long-term effects on physical functioning.

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Abbreviations

ADL:

Activities of daily living

IADL:

Instrumental activities of daily living

SHARE:

Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement

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Acknowledgments

This paper uses data from SHARE Wave 1 and 2 release 2.5.0, as of May 24, 2011, and SHARE Wave 4 release 1.1.1, as of March 28, 2013. The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th Framework Program (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic program Quality of Life), through the 6th Framework Program (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE, CIT5-CT-2005-028857), and through the 7th Framework Program (SHARE-PREP, No. 211909, SHARE-LEAP, No. 227822 and SHARE M4, No. 261982). Additional funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, R21 AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG BSR06-11 and OGHA 04-064) and the German Ministry of Education and Research as well as from various national sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org for a full list of funding institutions).

Conflict of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gerontology, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, The Center for Research and Study of Aging, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, 3498838, Haifa, Israel

    Yuval Palgi

  2. Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Amit Shrira

  3. Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Oleg Zaslavsky

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  1. Yuval Palgi
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  2. Amit Shrira
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  3. Oleg Zaslavsky
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Correspondence to Yuval Palgi.

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Palgi, Y., Shrira, A. & Zaslavsky, O. Quality of life attenuates age-related decline in functional status of older adults. Qual Life Res 24, 1835–1843 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-0918-6

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