Perception of health-related quality of life using the EURO-QOL in older adults in Bogotá, Colombia

Objective Measure health-related quality of life using the EuroQol instrument in people aged 60 years and older using the survey of Health, well-being and aging (SABE) Bogotá. Methods The EQ-5D portion of EuroQol instrument was used to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the SABE Bogotá study, a cross-sectional study conducted in 2000 community-dwelling older adults in 2012. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify factors associated to poor HRQOL. Statistical significance was set at 0.05. Results A total of 46.9% of participants reported pain/discomfort, 29% reported impaired mobility, 27.5% reported anxiety/depression, 20.7% reported limitations with usual activities and 11.4% reported self-care issues. Some factors associated with poor HRQOL in the different dimensions were: older age, receiving aid from relatives, listless mood, cognitive/functional impairment and comorbidities. In multivariate analyses, factors most frequently associated with poor HRQOL were functional and cognitive impairment and comorbidities such as joint disease (JD), stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Conclusions In our study, debilitating and highly symptomatic diseases like JD, COPD and cognitive impairment significantly increase the odds of poor HRQOL. The EuroQol is a useful instrument that can help clinicians in Colombia better assess quality of life among older adults.