Quality of life in homebound elderly people in a district of Alicante (Spain)

Objective. To measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in homebound elderly individuals in the District of San Blas (Alicante, Spain). Method. The sample was composed of 107 people aged more than 75 years old included in the home care program. As a measurement instrument, the Spanish version of COOP/WONCA charts in their complete version were used. Results. The mean age was 83.18 years. Distribution by sex was 76 (71%) women and 31 (29%) men. The mean overall score was 29.7 points with a standard deviation of 5.04. The association between age and total score was 0.19, which was statistically significant (p = 0.045). Comparison of these two means with Student's t-test for independent samples showed no statistically significant differences (t = -580; p > 0.05). When differences between men and women in each of the items of the scale were analyzed, only "social activities" showed a statistically significant difference (t = -2.959; p = 0.04). The time taken to administer the questionnaire was 30 +/- 5 min. Conclusions. HRQoL in our population is worse than that in other studied populations. Due to the ceiling-floor effect of some of the variables, further studies in this type of population are required. The time used in this type of population to complete the questionnaire was five times greater than that used in other populations.