Vojnosanitetski pregled 2015 Volume 72, Issue 11, Pages: 968-974
https://doi.org/10.2298/VSP140831107U
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Quality of life of the elderly in urban and rural areas in Serbia
Urošević Jadranka (College of Health Studies, Ćuprija)
Odović Gordana (Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, Belgrade)
Rapaić Dragan (Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation, Belgrade)
Davidović Mladen (Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade)
Trgovčević Sanja (Faculty of Political Sciences, Belgrade)
Milovanović Verica (Military Medical Academy, Belgrade)
Background/Aim. The number of elderly people in the world is growing, in
Serbia as well. Serbia is already among the top ten countries with the oldest
population, it is the fact. Aging influences the quality of life in different
ways. The aim of this study was to assess the health-related quality of life
of the elderly in urban and rural areas in Serbia. Methods. The study
included 100 elderly people aged 65 years and above in urban and rural areas
in Serbia. The next questionnaires were used: a sociodemographic
questionnaire and a Serbian version of standardized European Euro-QoL
questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L), as a basic index for the assessment and description
of the quality of life. Results. In the structure of the respondents,
according to the achieved social contacts (p = 0.012), the life of those with
family members (p = 0.009), and health status (p = 0.000), in relation to the
place of residence there was a statistically significant difference. There
was a significant difference (p = 0.040), predominantly poor score for
anxiety/depression within the rural population. The average value of quality
of life in urban and rural areas was not statistically significant (p =
0.720). For those living in rural areas there was a statistically significant
positive correlation between anxiety/depression and age, wealth status,
marital status, living with family members and achieving social contacts,
while a negative correlation was observed between anxiety/depression and
education. Conclusion. On the basis of the data of our study, we can say that
the presence of anxiety/depression among older people is greater in rural
than in urban areas. The results of this study show that the perception of
anxiety/depression among older in rural areas is bigger with the age and
poverty increasing, the loss of a spouse, life without family members, lack
of achievement of social contacts and lower education.
Keywords: quality of life, aged, residence characteristics, questionnaires, risk factors