The competing effects of disease states on quality of life of the elderly: The case of urinary symptoms in men

B. Mozes*, Y. Maor, A. Shmueli

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

During the period 1993-1994 we conducted a study in Israel on a national-based sample of 960 men to examine the relationships between urinary symptoms and various domains of quality of life (QoL). Regression analyses were performed for each of the eight SF-36 domains, separately for the entire population and for those without any co-morbidity. The dependent variable was the SF-36 domain scores. The independent variables included age, origin, education, employment and economic status, the degree of disturbance caused by urinary symptoms and the existence of co-morbidities. There was a significant difference between the entire population and the population without co-morbidities. In the entire population we found that severely bothersome urinary symptoms were related to scores on three QoL domains (social function, role-emotional and mental health) but there was no association with physical functioning and general health perceptions. In men without co-morbidity, urinary symptoms were substantially related to physical functioning and general health perceptions. These findings indicate that the relative weight of the impact of a symptom or disease on QoL domains is changed by the presence of other competing factors, such as co-morbidities or sociodemographic attributes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)93-99
Number of pages7
JournalQuality of Life Research
Volume8
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1999

Keywords

  • Health perception
  • Physical functioning
  • Population survey
  • QoL
  • SF-36 domains
  • Urinary symptoms

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